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 Random Musings from the Entertainment Desk

“Hurt Locker” a thriller you won’t soon forget

  It is my solemn vow to you that I will go this entire review without resorting to horrible puns like “explosive” or “incendiary” to describe “The Hurt Locker,” which chronicles the exploits of one of the US Army’s elite E.O.D. (explosive ordinance disposal) squads operating in Iraq circa 2004.

            After all, that would be just too easy and just a smidgen insulting to your intelligence. After all, it is a movie about bombs right? So the very subject matter calls for it to be explosive does it not?

            Clichés aside, “The Hurt Locker” just happens to be one of the year’s best thrillers, and if it wasn’t for a little ditty from Quentin Tarantino, it would be the year’s best war movie. I suppose you could say it is the year’s best war movie that won’t make history professors wag their fingers in shame and outrage.

            As I mentioned earlier, it follows a group of E.O.D’s as they make Iraq safer, one road side bomb and improvised explosive device at a time. Think of these guys like a souped up bomb squad. Not only do they have to disarm bombs, but they have to do it deep inside enemy territory, under constant threat of enemy fire, riots and worse. You think your job sucks? Not so much.

            The E.O.D. team is lead by SFC William James (Jeremy Renner), a hot shot adrenaline junkie who actually gets off on risking his life on a daily basis. He regularly ignores protocol and common sense in an effort to get his fix of life on the edge. SFC James’ nonsense doesn’t fly well with fellow team members Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Spc. Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty), neither of whom takes too kindly to James constantly risking their lives in addition to his own.

            “The Hurt Locker” does an incredible of depicting just what living in an almost constant state of danger can do to different people. Every decision they make just may be their last, every order they give could be the last that someone else obeys. The situation is not pretty, but each member of the E.O.D. team gets by in their own way, whether it be clinging to a set of principles or dreaming of the life that could await them as their deployment winds down.

            Or in the case of James, he just doesn’t give a damn what happens to himself. He just does things, not thinking of the consequences or possible repercussions. He constantly acts. Perhaps somewhere inside he fears that reacting might just be the thing that ends up killing him.

            Director Kathryn Bigelow actually manages to up the ante in terms of the devil may care attitude that flowed through one of her biggest successes, 1991’s “Point Break.” With “The Hurt Locker” she has created an unbelievably tense thriller that will have even the most jaded and cynical movie goers on the absolute edge of their seats. She even manages to turn audiences’ knowledge of movies against them at certain key points so effectively that it will likely keep Wes Craven up nights.

            Her film is a down and dirty look at the lives these men lead and what compels them to do the job that they do. At times it becomes easy to forget that you’re watching a work of fiction and not a straightforward documentary.

            For the most part, Mark Boal’s script barrels along like a tank, until the third act where it briefly loses a tread and gets bogged down in a character’s misguided attempt at revenge. The delay is only momentary and the film manages to shake it off with ease and finish strong.

            I could say that Jeremy Renner is dynamite as PFC James, but I won’t. What I will say is that Renner is fantastic. He’s able to convey both James’ lose cannon nature, while still allowing the character to feel like a real person. It would have been easy to turn him into a cowboy caricature, but in Renner’s skilled hands, James is a living, breathing person. Chances are good that you’ll be seeing a lot of this guy over the next few years and rightfully so.

            The film boasts an incredible supporting cast headed by Mackie as Sgt. Sanborn, who must learn to coexist with James for both their sakes. It’s easy for the audience to find themselves in Sanborn’s shoes, wondering just which higher up they pissed off to be saddled with a crazy man like James.        

            A stellar cast and razor sharp writing and directing make “The Hurt Locker” one of the best modern era war films ever made. It’s a movie that will embed itself in your head long after the end credits have finished rolling and is an absolute must see.

            Verdict: A-