Review 237: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is an amazing war drama and one of the best dramatizations of the Iraq War in recent years,

When a new sergeant, William James (Jeremy Renner), takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Eldridge (Brian Geraghty), by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. James behaves as if he's indifferent to death. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever.

The plot is a work of art, it's about the psychology behind the type of soldier who volunteers for this particular conflict and then, because of his or her aptitude, is chosen and given the opportunity to go into bomb disarmament and goes toward what everybody else is running from. It's a beautifully written plot that really makes you feel the experience of what the war is like. It also shows the drama, it shows us what life for the soldiers it shows how they feel about their job and what the do when they're not on duty.
What I really like about this film is that it's totally realistic. It takes place in a contempory setting and it's about something that is actually happening and every aspect that is depicted in this movie is totally realistic, the characters actions, the way the soldiers comunicate with each other, the mission there sent out on gives the impression that this actually happens in Iraq. But director Kathryn Bigelow doesn't depict the event that happen in the film as an act of duetty she rather uses character moments to depict the horrors in Iraq and how dangerous it really is, for instance she shows us the dangers of the war and dangerous it is to take risks through James' characters reckless actions e.g. the scene were they are sent to disarm some bombs in the boot of a car and the car is set on fire and James does some very ricky things. And the how his actions can put other people in danger are shown in the scene were he, Sanborn and Eldridge are searching for the insurgents responsible for a petrol tanker detonation and Eldridge gets captured and Sandon and James rescue him but injure him in the process.
Also depicted in the film is how the soldiers feel in the war, the pain they go through and what life is really like in the war in the scenes with Eldridge and the camps psychiatrist (Christian Camargo), he tells Eldridge that he should be proud of doing this, but Eldridge tells him the reality.
What this movie is trying to say is is that loads of soldiers are possibly out there in Iraq fighting right now and their possibly getting killed and it's showing us what it's like not as a war as a whole but for the soldiers.

Kathryn Bigelow's direction is precise, the cinematography is beautiful (it's hand held camera work and it makes it look like a documentry and that gets the films tone right), the effects are fantastic, the score by Marco Beltrami is brilliant, the sound effects are superb, it's well paced, the suspense is awesome, the production design is gritty and also gets the film tone right, the costumes are authentic, the make up is rich and beautifully detailed, the props are immaculate and expertly crafted, the fight scenes are well choreographed and brilliantly put together, the scenery is breathtaking, it keeps engaged the whole way and the ending was spectacular (I'm not going to reveal anything here but the ending shows us what it's like for a soldier out there in the modern world and how sometimes they can't go back to an ordinary life).

The acting... what can I say, I don't think I've seen better acting in a war film, but this, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon and The Thin Red Line feature possibly the best acting in a war film, Jeremy Renner gives a truly spellbinding performance as sergeant, William James and Mackie and Geraghty don't lag that far behind, Ralph Fiennes is fine in his small role and Christian Camargo is great as the camps psychiatrist.

The Hurt Locker is a truly powerful war film and one of the best in recent years, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.