Dreadfully Boring

Crappy film

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The bias of this movie ruins it. Anyone who isn't gullible will quickly catch on to the film-maker's beliefs about the whole situation, and the spin is far too obvious.That aside, this movie still isn't any good. The plot gets a little lost in itself at first, and the meat and potatoes of the film (what should really be the whole film) is basically the second half on. The introduction to our characters tells us very little about them that a far shorter introduction couldn't have, and none of them make any sort of real development through the tale.There's also a general sense of killing for the shock value, and while death is an obvious and major part of any war movie, they took it beyond what the plot necessitated.All in all, skip this movie. Thank me later.

Two Iraqi ideologues blow up a Humveee with an IED and rush away to safety. The Marines retaliate by bashing their way through the nearby houses and "shooting everything that moves." A dozen or more innocents are killed on the spot. The result of the Americans' actions is dutifully filmed by al Qaeda agents and used as recruiting material. The Marine corporal in charge of the engagement is at first applauded for his leadership and recommended for promotion and a decoration and then, when the incident hits the American press, brought up on multiple charges of murder.It's a tough movie to watch. It's not preachy, although all points of view are presented, but the harsh irony is a bit much to bear. In many ways the most emblematic scene has an innocent young man running down a hill in the simmering and smoky aftermath of the shoot out. He's searching for his wife. But the Marines gun him down from a hundred yards away because, after all, what is an Iraqi man doing running at a time like this? It's at the least suspicious.But then his wife arrives, screaming, and throws herself on the dead body. Ramirez, who is leading the fire team, approaches her with his rifle ready and shouts at her to move away from the body. She doesn't understand English and he speaks no Arabic. The wife finally flings herself at Ramirez and begins beating his shoulders and for a moment it seems that she will be killed as well.That seems, to me anyway, to be the message of the film. Murky but powerful forces can bring together people who simply don't understand each other and the result is a blood bath.The Marines we meet are brash but sympathetic figures. True, they are kind of dumb, but then many of us are pretty dumb when it comes to situations like this. One leader calls the insurgents "cowards" because they hide among the women and children. The men may or may not know why they are in Iraq but it's not their job to know. Their job is to define the enemy and kill him.Complications arise when the "enemy" blends insensibly into the "innocent civilians." A woman or an adolescent child can carry a rifle or an explosive as easily as a fully grown man.Disregarding values and ideology, that problem is common to all armies of occupation. The Germans had similar problems in occupied countries like France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. And, like the Marines in Iraq, the insurgents were a disparate group drawn from different ideologies, some more extreme than others. The core of the Greek resistance, for example, wasn't al Qaeda -- it was the communists. And, as in Iraq, resistance from extremists was met with retaliation against ordinary citizens by the Germans.This isn't an expensive epic of a movie. It's not "Blackhawk Down" or anything. The production values are lower than that. And I understand it doesn't stick to historical fact. Some of the acting is weak and the dialog contrived. I don't believe any U. S. Marine has ever said, "I'll be haunted by this guilt for the rest of my life." The story isn't easily described as "sad" despite the numerous murders. "Tragic" is a better descriptive. The "bad guys" here aren't so much the Marines, or the active insurgents for that matter. It's the configuration of values and political decisions that have brought these two forces together in a state of conflict.

After reading through some of the reviews I felt I had to chime in, though I am sure almost no one will read this. Before I give my observations on the movie itself I would just like to point out that many who stated this movie was an accurate portrayal clearly has no experience or expertise that would qualify them to make the statement. Something I hope people keep in mind when reading other reviews. As a Marine who actually served in Haditha as well as many other locations, reading many of the reviews sickened me because it shows how little people actually understand, just as I usually wear a long sleeved shirt because my USMC tattoo brings on questions, praise, or derision from the clueless masses who for some reason believe they have some insight to any reality outside their own convenient world.That said, I feel this movie is much better then most. The film clearly had an agenda and bias, and completely off the mark in terms of representing military tactics, equipment, etc... that is pretty much standard for any movie. I appreciated how the movie wasn't overly dramatic when showing issues faced by and actions of the various parties. One thing I wish the movie did take in to account is bullets pass through those walls like paper. I would wager that a large number of civilians were killed simply during an exchange of fire between the Marines, fighters, and then civilians who may have just seen a loved one fall. I have seen this happen often and I hope one day that reality is brought to light rather then showing young Marines on a blind rampage. However, no one knows exactly what happened except those who were there, and even that "reality or truth" depends on the perspective and state of mind of the observer. Another positive is how the movie doesn't really show any right or wrong, good or bad, that things just are and "sh!t happens". If anything, I do think that is the true agenda of the movie even if there was a bias in its portrayal. Also, I appreciated the use of Iraqi dialect of Arabic instead of modern standard, Egyptian, Syrian, etc. Another accuracy plus was how close the town/city looked compared to cities of the region. Though clearly not Haditha, I have not seen any movie closer to the truth in that regard.On a personal note, I think many of the comments made by Cpl Ramirez were spot on if a bit staged. I am not going to comment on any particular comment because you either understand or you don't. Also, and I know this is a bit of a stretch, but I refuse to give credibility to any one who may seek to either attack or defend (verbally) our war fighters because context is everything and the most people don't have or understand the context.I recommend this movie to anyone who is able to take if for what it is worth by dropping the expectation of realism while not adding meaning where there is not. Also, I hope people realize that no matter how many actual Marine veterans or Iraqi's (most westernized), the film is a product of the film maker and subject to their interpretation. I only wish I could have had my say about the movie sooner, if only to plant the seed that people should take this movie, and the other reviews including mine, with a grain of salt.

The fact that the maker of this film is used to making documentaries should have ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING on this particular film. As many other comments show, there are a ton of errors. In my opinion, the largest is calling this a "docudrama" because it is patently NOT true in almost every aspect. The Marines that this film pretends to portray were acquitted of all charges, but the film doesn't take this into account as it was produced prior to the situation being resolved. It totally ignores this fact and portrays the Marines as sloppy, paranoid hotheads with no organization or training. The Marines should be able to sue this film for slander. It would be one thing if this film were advertised as COMPLETE fiction, but they sell you a bill of goods when they make the claim that it is "based on actual events". The only "actual events" it is based on is the fact that a war is going on in Iraq and that there is actually a town named Haditha. Beyond that, it is reaching. This is the first film I have ever felt the need to comment on and I am doing so because I was completely offended by the portrayal of the Marines and I want prospective viewers to be aware. I also don't believe anyone involved with this film should make another dime from slandering our service men in this way. To profit from that is completely reprehensible. I have never had the privilege of serving but I know men who have served and men who still do and I pray they never have to bear witness to a movie such as this. These men do an honorable job and to portray them in this light is simply pissing on the freedom that they purchase for us with their blood. To leave any audience with the impression that this chain of events was not only possible but did happen is most irresponsible. I have never seen this man's documentaries and never will. If he is willing to not tell the whole story in this account while claiming it is based on actual events, then I can not trust him to tell the truth in his documentaries. Beyond that, I don't think it's artistic to make a fictional film in this shaky documentary style. Some call it "raw". I call it unfinished and shoddily put together. The production of this film could have been handled with a hand-held video camera and entry level editing software. Apparently he put just as little time into production as he put into researching the facts. This film goes to show that in film making, you really can get away with anything.