'The Hurt Locker' Movie Review

Despite the fact audiences are not turning out to see 'war' movies, filmmakers are still intent on making movies about the Iraq War. In the case of The Hurt Locker, written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, moviegoers able to put aside their preconceived ideas and prejudices about films involving soldiers and war will be treated to one of the best films of 2009, and one of the better films made in the past few decades about the men and women who serve in the US military.

But this isn't so much a movie about war as it is an intense character study that just happens to have soldiers as the central characters and the Iraq War as the background. Boal used his experiences from his time spent as a journalist embedded with an Army bomb unit in Baghdad as the basis for the screenplay, and although the characters are composites and creative license was taken, The Hurt Locker feels genuine and completely authentic.

Bigelow and Boal (sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?) don't glorify war, nor do they rail against it. You can read a message into The Hurt Locker, but it's not a political movie. What it is is a unique look at a specialized military unit charged with defusing bombs, a captivating story told in such a way that the audience feels as though we're right there beside these men as they risk life and limb to protect their fellow servicemen and women, as well as innocent Iraqis. Watching this unit go out on nearly a daily basis to try and defuse improvised explosives hidden under rubble or disguised with trash is a heart-pounding film-going experience.

Bigelow engages the audience right off the bat, kicking the film off with a seat-gripping suspenseful sequence that signals just what we're in store for. And The Hurt Locker never lets up. Swiftly paced, there's not a wasted minute onscreen and not a single central character who's left undeveloped.

Bigelow chose just the right actor in Jeremy Renner to play the main character, Army Staff Sergeant William James, an adrenaline junkie who feels most alive when facing death. Renner's surrounded by a topnotch supporting cast led by Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty, with brief yet poignant appearances by Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes.

As good as the entire cast is, The Hurt Locker rests on Renner's shoulders and he handles the burden well. Renner's a mix of boyish charm and bravado as a guy who wants to be able to go home and just be a dad to his infant son but can't. The pull to return to the squad and return to putting his life on the line every day is just too strong to resist, and Renner gives us all that and more in his performance.

Director Bigelow and screenwriter Boal weave a thoroughly gripping tale with The Hurt Locker and have created an incredible, must-see film.

GRADE: A

The Hurt Locker was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and is rated R for war violence and language.

Theatrical Release: June 26, 2009

_{Disclosure: This review is based on a screening provided by the studio. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.}