Les médias américains aiment Generation Kill

Generation Kill est la série estivale d'HBO. Inspirée des articles d'Evan Wright, un journaliste du magazine Rolling Stones, elle raconte en 7 épisodes les tribulations de la première vague de reconnaissance de l'armée américaine lors de l'invasion de l'Irak en 2003.

Son premier épisode a été diffusé le 13 juillet. La presse américaine qui a pu la voir dans son intégralité a été très réceptive à cette mini-série, produite par, tout de même, les créateurs The Wire. Etat des lieux.

Hollywood Reporter, franchement emballé :

It's that it manages to so easily hold the audience in its thrall while simultaneously evoking a vibe of, "There's somethin' happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear" (to quote the immortal Buffalo Springfield).

And like the intractable drug war that Simon and company waged on "The Wire," it is, indeed, a sight to behold.

There is a big cast -- too many to easily keep straight -- a lot of blown-out streets, and the theme of people not being able to do their jobs properly because people above them keep making dangerously bad decisions. (These inferior superior officers are played a little too clownishly.)

The point here also seems to be that war is stupid, this one more so than many others, and that the higher one goes in the hierarchy of command, the stupider the commanders tend to be.

Critical without being overtly political, with stretches of boredom punctuated by the sudden chaos of firefights where it’s impossible to distinguish innocent bystanders from insurgents, Generation Kill is both timely and timeless. It’s the sort of achievement likely to be marveled at for generations.

You may end up thinking we shouldn't be over there, or that we should be fighting, but with better planning and equipment. (You probably won't think these early days were leading to a rapid ''mission accomplished.'') Still, Kill pays both you and its subjects two solid compliments: It doesn't scream ''Take heed: This is a work of art!'' And it lets you form your own opinions about what its social commentary is.