The Hurt Locker

War movies are a dime a dozen these days and very few of them are making any impact. Last year and early this year a stream of Iraq war movies came and went without much notice or fanfare. When I started to see things for The Hurt Locker, I became curious because it was actually getting noticed through all the other war movies. It is one of the best reviewed movies of the year and the lead actor, Jeremy Renner (Who you know from..ummm well, nothing)has been getting raves. While I do not always buy into the hype of a movie, I did think it looked good and reviews can push me in one direction and all of a sudden I found myself really desiring to see it.

An elite bomb squad team has 40 days left on the tour of Iraq when something tragic happens. It is war and tragedy strikes. The two remaining members have to get a new third member and that new man is William James(Renner). James is a chain smoking, heavy metal music listening, reckless bomb tech with no time for rules and regulations. This does not work so well with his team consisting of JT Sanborn(Anthony Mackie) and Owen Eldridge(Brian Geraghty), as James pretty consistently puts the team in danger with his reckless way of dealing with bombs. He cuts off communication, refuses to use the robot disarmer, and kicks the trunks of cars that may or may not have bombs in them. He is also the team leader and appears to have great concern for the lives of his two team members. If that seems like a pretty simplistic summary, it kind of is. The movie is not about plot as the story consists of essentially just following this bomb squad around as they disarm or try to disarm bombs. However, the story is not what drives the movie.

Imagine having two hours to get from point A to point B and having to walk across a field to do it and having that field covered in mines, so every step may or may not be your last. It would be quite an intense experience. Thus is The Hurt Locker. Every scene in this movie pops with a stark intensity, a build up that is so tension filled, you are are almost begging for the pay off just so you can relax. Oh the pay off always comes, but you never know when it is coming and you never know just how big it will be. At times, the pay off is small and in other moments the pay off is the explosion you are expecting, but the tension, the set up is so good, that is what matters. In every scene, life and death are in a race and it is always neck and neck. Following these three men deal with the life and death aspects of war is a harrowing experience and one that director Kathryn Bigelow does not let go lightly. Do not go in expecting your usual independent drama. Make no mistake, The Hurt Locker is an action movie.

Jeremy Renner's performance is worthy of all of the accolades and attention he is receiving. His performance is gripping. It is impossible to take your eyes off of him. He fills the screen with a weird balance of leadership and pure deranged junkie like qualities. The movie opens with a quote about how war is a drug and William James is an addict. He is more than an adrenaline junkie. He is addicted to almost dying. We are not given a reason for this, which makes it scarier. I never took James as a superhuman, just a guy who had been lucky up to the point of this movie. His team is filled out nicely. Anthony Mackie has become quite a great young character actor and he gets the best monologue, which kind of sums up the movie and makes you question James' motives even more. Brian Geraghty adds a sympathetic character for us to give us insight into how scary the experience is. he is the most effected by the tragedies of the war and he comes across as the most normal guy.

Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse all show up in cameo roles, in very important scenes. The scene with Ralph Fiennes is my favorite as it offers brilliant intensity, by mixing pure silence with loud bullets and crazed action. In any moment in the movie, but specifically this scene, people can die and bullets will fly. Then, without warning, the movie slows down, while maintaining an intensity that will make you want to scream and break things. Then, we see William James at his best, taking control of the situation, calming down his team and leading them in such a way that he does his best to keep them alive. It is that scene, in the middle of nowhere, where I feel the movie is most effective.

Towards the end a few things happen that I felt were a little out of place in this movie, but they were done with such crackling intensity, I forgave the way they veered away from the mission. Kathryn Bigelow is a director who understands pay off and understands how to get the most out of 44 days in the desert, that I have to wonder why she does not get more work. I am sure there is not a ton of work for a woman working in action movies, but this movie should make people see how good she can be. The Hurt Locker had to be more expensive than a lot of independent pictures, with the explosions and everything, and if there is any justice, it will have no trouble getting back every cent.

I know nothing of war, or weapons or procedures, so I will not even pretend to comment on how realistic the movie is in terms of war, but the movie presents itself in a real way. The fear, insanity, intensity and sadness these characters feel, is palpable. I was always just waiting for bombs to go off, or for people to die. There is not a real moment to breathe, as even the scene with the team drinking and having fun is just one wrong word away from erupting into something not pleasant. There are laughs to be had, to be sure, but they are not laughs of pure joy, they are laughs to momentarily ease the tension before Bigelow and company put about 50lbs on your shoulders for about 15 minutes, just because they can.

I cannot in my life imagine ever being in a war and this movie is a very clear reminder of why. it takes a certain person to live in a world where every day could be your last. The Hurt Locker, for a little over two hours, reassures me that I am lucky to have the life I have. I could be addicted to almost dying, like William James, even though he has an adorably chunky baby and a gorgeous wife(Evangeline Lilly) waiting for him at home, but they just do not do it for him. He needs to be on the verge of death to feel alive and it makes me just that much more content to be living the life I lead.

Final Grade: A+