Up for Oscar contention, The Hurt Locker follows three US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) men who are in the same unit for the last month and a half of their tour in Iraq. The main character, Sfc. William James replaces one of the original men in the unit who gets killed in duty at the start of the movie.
The Hurt Locker is a look at what these men do for us everyday they are out there. Death can happen everyday at any moment. The pressure and stress is just unbelievable, the suspense and intensity best captured by director Kathryn Bigelow (who directed one of my favorite action movies, Point Blank).
The movie never really diverges from taking a close look at the three core men in this EOD unit. James is basically a lunatic, he feeds off of the adrenaline of diffusing bombs, much to the chagrin of Sargent Sanborn and Spc. Owen Eldridge. The two “sane” men in the unit pretty much pray that James won’t get them all killed. It’s an interesting dynamic in extreme conditions. They bond like brothers, they are forced to trust each other, but James is really the wildcard that Sanborn and Eldridge fear.
The movie plays out like a slice of time which I think is it’s greatest fault. The movie just kind of ends, it feels like you entered a room in the middle of a conversation that you pick up, but after two hours the people walk out of the room leaving you behind to continue the story. That said, there is some expert filmmaking at work here and all of the actors do extremely well to sell every scene; whether they are taking enemy fire, holding their breath to disarm a bomb that could wipe out an apartment building or blowing off steam at the base. There are some of the most suspenseful scenes in a movie that I can recall in a really long time. At it’s best times The Hurt Locker is a visceral experience, at the worst of times it can be a dragging experience. The highs and lows of the movie change from scene to scene in such a dramatic way that it can feel a bit drawn out, I think 10 minutes or so could have been trimmed out (the wrestling scene comes to mind). But that kind of fits with the nature of the film, in the Army most of the time you aren’t doing anything. The term “Hurry up and wait” certainly applies.
I give it a hearty recommendation.