Film Review: Hurt Locker

This film holds kudos as one of the more realistic of the current 'men at war' movies that now regularly hit the screen. Set in Iraq in 2004 The Hurt Locker follows a unit of the US Army’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal force as it disarms bombs and improvised explosive devices, (IED). It is a skillful and emotionally involving film of the conflict in Iraq.

Sergeant Will James, (Jeremy Renner), the unit’s leader, is considered reckless by members of his team for approaching bombs without sending in a bomb disposal robot. Watching him suit up, find and follow a tangle of cords and wires to the bomb, search for the triggering device and render it harmless is intense and full of suspense.

James does have a softer side. He befriends a young Iraqi boy, Beckham an aspiring soccer player, who earns a few dollars selling DVD’s to the troops. James’ grief is palpable when he discovers the body of a young Iraqi, who he believes to be Beckham, with an IED implanted in his chest.

Sergeant James is a man you’d love to have on your team, although perhaps not in command. The tension steadily builds between James and his fellow team members, Sergeant Sandford, (Anthony Mackie), and Specialist Eldridge, (Brian Geraghty), who provide rifle cover as James sets out to locate and disarm various bombs. The interaction of intensity, bravery and fear between the three soldiers, and the mistrust between U.S. forces and the Iraqi citizens, is evident throughout the film.

When Specialist Eldridge is wounded he blames it on James’ need for an ‘adrenalin fix’, claiming the unit should have called in an infantry platoon, as suggested by Sgt. Sandford, rather than track down and kill two bomb makers.

This is not a combat movie. There is one ‘action’ sequence, filmed in the desert, when the EOD unit stops to help a patrol of British contractors to change a tyre on their SUV and are ambushed.

We see Will James at home with his wife and young son at the end of his tour; shopping, helping his wife prepare a meal and ‘thinking aloud’ in a monologue as he plays with his son. But civilian life lacks a certain frisson for Sergeant James and he’s next seen back in Iraq.

The camera work, sound, and cinema verite cameos give this film a credibility not found in special effects laden shoot-em-up war films, and The Hurt Locker is better for it.

The Hurt Locker deservedly won a number of Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, and Best Original Screenplay by Mark Boal. It is now available on DVD and has this review's recommendation as certainly worth watching.