The Hurt Locker
Review
by Anthony Morris
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The Hurt Locker
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When
their by‑the‑book commander (Guy Pearce) is killed defusing a bomb on
the streets of Iraq, the rest of his squad (Anthony Mackie and Brian
Geraghty) find themselves saddled with Sergeant William James (Jeremy
Renner) a hot‑shot who plays by his own rules. In
any other film this would be a formula for the same old tired dramatic
conflicts built around the usual shouting match cliches. Instead,
director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break)
simply shows the three man unit defusing bomb after bomb in a series of
some of the most tense and expertly crafted suspense sequences you'll
see in this or any other year. There
is some character development here (and yes, there is a "your reckless
antics will get us all killed" scene), but Bigelow isn't interested in
showing us people who grow or learn. Rather,
she's describing a type, a man who having found war can't live without
it - and what that means for the men around him who can see a way out
of the hell they're in. Bigelow shows
equal restraint when it comes to making moral statements about the Iraq
war. There's nothing going on here but first‑class storytelling as we
see who these people are via their work (which is edge‑of‑the‑seat
material) and via their down time (which can be just as violent and
risky). Bigelow has made the first truly great film about the Iraq war, and she's done it by making a film about all war. Film‑making doesn't come better.
5
out
of 5
The Hurt Locker
Australian release: 18th February,
2010
Official
Site: The Hurt Locker
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, Evangeline Lilly
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
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