The Hurt Locker
Another explosive encounter in the amazing The Hurt Locker
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Friday, 28, Aug 2009 09:20
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, out August 28th in cinemas, starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, running time 131 mins.
In a nutshell...
Heart-racing filmmaking with a devastating message.
What's it all about?
Under the command of unorthodox new staff sergeant Will James (Renner), bomb disposal technicians JT Sanborn (Mackie) and Owen Eldridge (Geraghty) attempt to survive their remaining deployment in Iraq while understanding James' dangerous and cocksure methods.
Who's in it?
A largely little-known cast is led by Jeremy Renner (Dahmer, The Assassination of Jesse James), with able support from Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, Half Nelson, Million Dollar Baby) and Brian Geraghty (Jarhead, We Are Marshall), while Lost's Evangeline Lily, Guy Pearce (Memento) and Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List) pop up in cameos.
As an example...
"There's enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable." - Will James
"What's the best way to go about disarming one of these things?" - Colonel Reed
"The way you don't die, sir." - Will James
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
It might suffer though its lack of patriotism or star names but Bigelow and director of photography Barry Ackroyd are surely deserving of nominations for their exhilarating work behind the camera.
What the others say
"The most literally exciting film you will see this year. Forget the off-putting banner of another Iraq movie - go, watch, marvel, endure and book in the palliative of a stiff drink afterwards." - Ian Nathan, Empire
"Overwhelmingly tense, overflowing with cracking verisimilitude, it's both the film about the war in Iraq that we've been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that's long been expected from director Kathryn Bigelow." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
So is it any good?
Since her 1987 breakthrough Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow's made a career on high-concept action, shot in luxuriant definition and an intensity that leaves the viewer's heart praying for respite, but never quite realised the potential exhibited in brief flashes in the last two decades. Until now. In combining with investigative journalist Mark Boal and award-winning director of photography Barry Ackroyd, and finding a subject matter that provides a human and relevant side to an extreme environment, she's made a film that both chills and excites the heart, and could be in line for an Oscar.
With superb performances from its little-known leads, an uncompromising approach that dispenses with big names as quickly as they've been introduced and a nail-biting realism to each and every set-piece, The Hurt Locker is a different beast of war film, and stays with the viewer for days.
We're thrust head-first into the action from the word go, with handheld cameras providing a gritty, dirty feel and such incredible tension that your heart pounds ferociously throughout. Every unwanted but inevitable explosion is full of consequence for both the bomb disposal squad and the surrounding residents of Baghdad and we're a world away from the emotionally-cold, sunlit, pyro-porn of Michael Bay and his ilk. There's no lip service to our traditional expectations of a war film - nary an inspiring pre-battle speech or stirring score to be found here - and Bigelow leaves the viewer as desperate to escape Iraq as the troops. We're suited, booted and on the ground for the duration, walking into a theatre of conflict where expertise and an excess of bravery are the keys to survival. There's no boy's own heroism, either, with our three central protagonists simply skilled technicians called into action ten or 20 times a day to disable deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs) left by the insurgency.
While Mackie and Geraghty both put in layered performances and can hope for bigger roles, Renner is simply astonishing. His Sgt James is a career technician who's only at peace with himself and the world when he's clad in a hefty bomb disposal suit and staring death in the face at close range. He's a captivating presence throughout, whether recklessly tackling an explosive single-handed or losing his cool after a personal attachment to the local neighbourhood proves costly, and Renner's agent should prepare for a busy few months.
Boal's script is controlled and naturalistic, furthering the notion that Bigelow intended The Hurt Locker as an adrenaline shot-to-the-heart, with your nerves shredded from the first minute until the last and a nice sit down needed before you can keep calm and carry on.
Yet as astounding as the thrills and spills are - and a long-range gun battle sequence is probably the action set-piece of the year - there's always an emotional undercurrent when Bigelow and Ackroyd plunge us deep into the heart of the danger. In a time when fallen British soldiers are regularly repatriated from Afghanistan - many of them the victims of IEDs - The Hurt Locker serves as a chastening reminder of the human cost of Western operations in the Middle East and the psychological wounds inflicted even when death and injury are narrowly avoided.
This is a war film like none you've ever seen, with affecting emotional arcs alongside breathtakingly tense action - seek it out where you can.
10/10
Lewis Bazley