i dunno man.

i.just.don't.know.

i mean...it was obviously a good watch and twists the tension brilliantly and all that.

but...my first reaction is.....looking for any sort of insight into the war....well there just isn't any.....

and yes, yes...i know that's sort of the point....it isn't like generation kill with guys siting around rapping about it all....i know the subtlety is the whole point and it isn't about flagging a specific political agenda...

but my point is, the fact that they are soldiers in iraq diffusing bombs is pretty inconsequential

the two leads were basically just bodie and utah...one maverick blinded by the adrenaline rush...sucked in to the drug....and the other, the more conventional guy trying to keep the pace, looking into his eye to try and understand what he's thinking

the fact that they were playing this out by diffusing bombs in baghdad isn't really here or there....it was just an adequate setting for the themes that bigalow wants to focus on.......which i spose is all about the way masculinity plays out in extreme situations...the tension between average living and a life always at breaking point.....yada yada...

so yeah...i think watching the hurt locker and wondering if it says anything about war at all, no matter how subtle, is like watching point break to try and understand surfing.

they're both just sort of red herrings, just appropriate worlds to frame the exploits of men locked in extreme cycles.

is that fair or bullshit?