"The Hurt Locker" Review - Written by Anthony T

The Hurt Locker
Year: 2009
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 130 Mins.





There’ve been many great war films that I’ve seen my lifetime. They include “Letters From Iwo Jima”, “Three Kings”, “Saving Private Ryan”, Apocalypse Now”. But none of them had made such an impact emotionally, like this film that I’m about to review.

“The Hurt Locker” is latest film from Kathryn Bigelow, who has directed films such as “Strange Days”, “Point Break”, and “Near Dark”. Her latest film focuses on three members, of an Army elite Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) squad unit in Iraq.

The film is about a new staff sergeant (Jeremy Renner) who takes over a bomb disposal team after the previous one was killed in the line of duty. He takes over the team that has a sergeant (Anthony Mackie) that follows the rules, by the book and a specialist (Brian Geraghty) who is insecure and worried that a mistake could kill an innocent person or another of his fellow colleagues. They have thirty-nine days left in their deployment. They don’t get along at first because of the sergeant has a reckless style, but the three will soon have depend on each other. They will struggle through internal and personal issues, as the streets of Iraq are filled with bombers. These experiences will change their lives forever, as the soldiers try to survive the remaining days they have left before they are deployed back home. The film also features appearances from Guy Pearce (L.A Confidential, Memento), Ralph Fiennes (“The Reader”, “The English Patient”), and David Morse (“The Green Mile”, “Disturbia”).

After watching “The Hurt Locker”, I came out theater thinking that this is truly one of most realistic war films ever made. Everything was just perfect, from the acting to the filming of battle scenes. This is truly, the best film set in Iraq, since “Three Kings” back in 1999.

Let’s start with the film’s direction. This film has great direction from Kathryn Bigelow, who should be nominated at Oscar time. She does everything well here. First, the war scenes were very impactful. Everytime that you had a scene, where there was a firefight or dismantle of a bomb, the scenes felt intense and very engaging. Bigelow also does a very good job making the audience invested in the three main characters. She does that, by letting the characters stand out for who they are, as this felt like a documentary at times. The reason for that, Bigelow doesn’t use a lot of music. By not doing that, it gives the film it’s realistic tone. I also liked how she used the cameos from Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse. She makes them pretty much unrecognizable, plus their presence doesn’t take away from the film’s tone or story.

Bigelow’s direction of her three main actors, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brain Geraghty was very good. They were directed in a way that everything felt real to the point that you felt like you were watching a documentary. It added to the realistic atmosphere that makes this film, so powerful.

The film, also has a brilliant screenplay from writer Mark Boal. He does a great job creating a story that’s realistic that it generates an emotional response, once you leave the theater. One of the reasons, Boal creates characters that come off as realistic. During the course of the film, he gives his characters emotion. Boal focuses on it throughout, as each of the characters are put through realistic situations that would scar a person mentally forever. It leads to some good drama and makes this film have an everlasting impact. Another thing that this screenplay does very well is not become too preachy with it's message. Boal manages to do this, by not turning this film into an anti-war film that is there to attack someone. Instead, he makes this story about the trials and tribulations that these soldiers go through on a daily basis. Boal highlight the mental scars, the firefights, and the troubles that these solders face on a daily basis on the battlefield and at home. By doing this, it makes everything come off as realistic. This is truly the first great screenplay of 2009 and it’s also Oscar worthy.

I know that “The Hurt Locker” is in limited release now, but I urge you to find this film in your local arthouse theater. This is one of those films that you will be hearing about, when the Oscars come rolling around. “The Hurt Locker” is a gripping war film that has a lot of emotion and will leave an impact, long after the film has ended.

Review Rating: Five Stars.