The Hurt Locker

Release Year: 2009

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Review: Katheryn Bigalow's Oscar winning Iraq war movie that manages to stay away from political overtones and focus on individuals.  This is the interesting part of war, the personal stories of soldiers.  The stories of ordinary men trying to survive in a living hell, and how it effects them.

In a word, this movie is tense.  Bigalow is a master at building tension and executing each bomb defuse sequence as if the entire world depended on its outcome.  One of the faults I did find in the film, was that it was repetitive.  At its core its the same thing over and over again.  The three men have to diffuse a bomb.  And yet it is handled in such a way that it always feels new, and the threat is always real.  The immersion into the war zone is perhaps the most effective aspect of the movie.  Because of this, the characters connect more personally.  When you feel as if you are there with them, their plights are more meaningful.  

This is every bit a character driven film.  Lead by the adrenaline addicted William James, played perfectly by Jeremy Renner, each man in the group has their own distinctive personality.  Each is important to the film and react to the environment in their own ways.  The effect of war on a soldier is perhaps the most important part of the film and it is handled better than in most other war films.  There is a feel of authenticity throughout the film, and the phycological toll that it takes on soldiers is all the more effective because of this.
Rating: 4/5

Comments

[M. Carter @ the Movies]

Jeremy Renner should have won an award for coming out of NOWHERE with this fantastic performance. Without his character, the movie would have been just another war movie (albeit one with great effects and pacing).

Although I was rooting for "Inglourious Basterds" to take Best Picture, I was only slightly let down when "Hurt Locker" won. Anything but "Avatar," which had visuals and not much else.