The Hurt Locker
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Bryan Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow
Rating: 5/5
There have been no end of movies that have depicted the Iraq war over recent years all of which have failed at the box office and not gone down very well with the critics.
But they always say that there is an exception to every rule and The Hurt Locker is just that. Forget all the rubbish that you have seen before with this genre of war movie as The Hurt Locker is a masterpiece.
In the summer of 2004, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) of Bravo Company are at the volatile centre of the war, part of a small counterforce specifically trained to handle the homemade bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), that account for more than half of American hostile deaths and have killed thousands of Iraqis.
A high-pressure, high-stakes assignment, the job leaves no room for mistakes, as they learn when they lose their team leader on a mission.
When Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) takes over the team, Sanborn and Eldridge are shocked by what seems like his reckless disregard for military protocol and basic safety measures. And yet, in the fog of war, appearances are never reliable for long.
Is James really a swaggering cowboy who lives for peak experiences and the moments when the margin of error is zero or is he a consummate professional who has honed his esoteric craft to high-wire precision?
As the fiery chaos of Baghdad goes on around them, the men struggle to understand and contain their new leader long enough for them to make it home.
They have only 38 days left in their tour of Iraq, but with each new mission comes another deadly encounter, and as James blurs the line between bravery and bravado, it was only a matter of time before disaster was around the corner and lives put needlessly on the line.
What makes this movie so powerful is the absence of politics at no point, like in so many movies that have gone before, does filmmaker Bigelow question the reasons why the war is taking part or the death toll and this comes as a refreshing change.
The Iraqis are not painted as the enemy, the movie doesn’t show the stress and strain put on American soldiers, the American’s are not painted as heroes or the bringer of liberation from a cruel regime instead the movie just follows the lives and work of the soldiers as they count down the days until they can go home.
Instead the movie is the personal perspective of James, Sanborn and Eldridge as they face the horrors of modern warfare mixed with the adrenaline buzz of there task in Iraq.
And the central characters all beautifully contrast with one another James is reckless with the rules going about the job in his own way regardless of the safety of those around him. Sanborn on the other hand likes missions to go by the book in a bid to get everyone out alive and Eldridge is haunted by the decisions that he made that caused the death of a friend.
But the three pull together to survive their time in Iraq until a reckless decision by James puts lives on the line. And it’s a great performance from virtual unknown Jeremy Renner as the troubled James who struggles with life in the real world and gets off on the thrill of his highly dangerous job.
But it’s not just the cast that should be applauded as Bigelow has produced a movie that is highly visual and in many cases very beautiful if, at times, very brutal.
Shot in a documentary manner the audience is plunged into the belly of Iraq and can see at first hand the danger that the characters face on a daily basis. It’s a fast paced and exciting film as danger lurks around every corner.
It’s a heart-pounding, nervous and exciting movie that really will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish as the three central characters face life threatening situations from day to day.
The Hurt Locker is a truly an exciting piece of cinema and is one of the best movies of 2009 so far. A modern war classic we may have just uncovered the first real Oscar contender of the year.
The Hurt Locker is out now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw