The Hurt Locker

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and Guy Pearce
Releasing in cinemas: 25 February 2010
Rated: MA 15+

Tightening the suspense screw

“The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”

This quote opens The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow’s remarkable film about a US army bomb demolition squad operating in Baghdad during the Iraq war. I’m sure this will be one of the outstanding films this year and in the ‘must see’ category. By the way ‘the hurt locker’ is an expression meaning a dangerous place.

When Staff Sergeant Thompson (Guy Pearce) is killed by an IED ("Improvised Explosive Device") his replacement comes in the form of Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), a seemingly fearless cowboy markedly different to the cautious Thompson. He takes over the highly trained bomb squad with his two subordinates Sergeant Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). Apparently having no fear of death, James cheerfully takes his team on dangerous missions in the booby trapped streets of Baghdad. While Sanborn and Eldridge struggle to control their gung-ho leader as he risks their lives, the city explodes into chaos around them. They learn at their peril the driven nature of Sergeant James. The potent thrill of decommissioning bombs becomes the one love of his life.

The movie opens with bang - forgive the pun - a flurry of action shots as a team tries to defuse a bomb amid the horrors of war-torn Iraq. The suspense begins from the first frame and never stops till the end credits. This is easily the most frightening and realistic depiction of the Iraq war we have seen on the screen. It certainly packs a punch and the tension is almost unbearable; enough to give you palpitations. Visions of hell abound, from the fiery destruction of a suicide bomber to a bomb planted in a child’s dead body. No picture has done it better.

Director Kathryn Bigelow (K-19: The Widowmaker) deserves a round of applause for The Hurt Locker. Brilliantly structured and gripping throughout, she gives you a sense of being there up to your neck in the horrors of Iraq’s dangerous streets with a real feeling of the ghastly war. Bigelow picks up telling details in close shots: the fly crawling across a face, the refreshment of a drink in battle, cleaning the blood from clogged ammunition.

Heading the cast (his feelings sometimes masked in heavy blast helmet, but unnervingly cool in the deadly situations) Jeremy Renner (28 Weeks Later) makes the movie his own. Gradually he gives depth to his character with incidents like playing a ball game with a young Iraqi lad “Beckham” and attempting to avenge the boy's death. Both Anthony Mackie’s Sanborn and Brian Geraghty’s Eldrige are strongly drawn figures trying to fathom their fearless leader and prevent being blown to bits. Guy Pearce, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes also appear in significant cameos.

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (of The Wind that Shook The Barley) here at times seems inspired by The Blair Witch Project. Perhaps his jittery hand-held camera (typical of a TV news coverage) actually helps the feeling of immediacy, and is at least offset by some stunning imagery so I won’t harp on the matter. Much of the shooting would have been in difficult even dangerous conditions, the location being Jordan, only a short distance from the Iraq border.

The screenplay is by Mark Boal, a member of a bomb squad who clearly writes from experience. Considerable tension is built by exceptional editing and sound, making the audience themselves feel threatened in this tour de force. I promise you a gripping emotional experience which won’t disappoint. In breaking news, Kathryn Bigelow pipped her ex-husband James Cameron (Avatar) for best direction with The Hurt Locker in the 2009 Directors' Guild of America Awards. She's the first woman in the 62 year Guild history to pick up the best director's award. That tells you something.

John Bale