Movie Review – The Hurt Locker
Movie Review The Hurt Locker
A bomb disposal export in Iraq and his team must go around and disable IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices) before they can kill and destroy those around them.
This is an ultra realistic movie that deals with much more than just the job of cutting the correct red wire of a bomb. Filmed in Jordan, which to my uneducated eye, looks like I imagine Iraq to look, the movie follows a team of a bomb disposal expert and his two team mates through a city where every pile of rubbish may disguise a bomb and anyone watching may have a cell phone to set off the bomb.
This is a tense movie, not just for the characters but for the watcher who is permanently tensed up waiting for the next explosion or death. The plot introduces the main characters and then follows them as they deal with the day to day job in various ways.
Oscar nominated Jeremy Renner stars (and I do mean stars) as Staff Sargent William James, the bomb tech. I watched Renner previously in the short lived but excellent cop show The Unusuals as well as a brief role in the movie version of the TV show SWAT. Each time I found that Renner was believable and a very talented actor. If there is any justice in the world, he will go on and become a very well know, very rich actor who makes the right movies rather than just three or four blockbusters.
Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty play the support team for the bomb tech and while not as in focus as Renners character, still do an excellent job and are enjoyable to watch.
I found The Hurt Locker a challenging movie to watch because it is brutal, not in a Tarantino movie kind of way but in a honest, real life way that makes you glad you are not living in a war zone such as Iraq. After watching this, I had to find something light and brainless to watch so I can relax. Now that’s a movie doing its job.
The Hurt Locker is a movie that you should watch, even just once. A famous bald orange radio and TV host said that he would never watch it again but loved it. An excellent movie that does not glamorize war, makes you think, hard, and is physically grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go.
