The Hurt Locker: Review

War films can be very difficult creatures to handle. They can be either too political or too cliched. Kathryn Bigelow, the director of such classics as Point Break and Near Dark, has gone for the approach of telling a simple tale of the men who risk their lives in possibly one of the best movies this year.

Concentrating on an elite Army bomb squad during the Iraq War, we follow the everyday lives of three men, as they face untold dangers from snipers, the locals and, of course, explosives. Nearly arrived Sergeant James has been on tour in Afghanistan, and now joins the team, but his methods are both too macho and too dangerous for his two fellow officers, and yet he gets the job done, from discovering explosives in the street, in cars and on human beings. Yet James seems to relish in the danger, but could this affect his relationship with the other men?

Bigalow has done a very clever thing. She doesn't once mention anything about the political views of the war, and as to why the soldiers are there, she simply has set her film smack in the middle of a land torn, and doesn't once question the reasoning. These are men who have a job to do. She gives the film a more realistic viewpoint, as if you are in the heart of the action along with the characters, and she piles on the tension so much so it almost becomes unbearable.

The other clever thing she has done is not used well known names to play the leads. Jeremy Renner has done stuff in the past but you wouldn't know his name if you saw him. Looking like a rougher Daniel Craig, he gives an impressively smoldering performance, as does Anthony Mackie as his fellow Sergeant Sanborn. Brian Geraghty, as the nervous, slightly psychotic Spc Eldridge make up as very strong trio. Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse all make appearances, but never too long of distracting from the three leads.

If I was to make a criticism, its more of a personal one, as we are in the middle of the action constantly, the camera swings about all over the place, causing a reaction that made me move seats in order not to be sick, but this is a minor problem.

This is an impressive piece of cinema, and one that will stick in the mind long after it has finished. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't mentioned in the same breath as Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket or Platoon as being one of the best war films. It certainly is an amazing piece and puts Kathryn Bigalow right back among the best action directors around. If you like your movies to be incredibly tense and nail-biting, then I would highly recommend this stunner. It also has one of the most moving yet perfectly pitched endings I have seen in a film for a very long time.