I agree that it’s been a while since this movie has been out. I agree that I’ve bothered to review it after the Academy gave it 6 awards. I agree that I should’ve reviewed it a while back. But it just sort of slipped past my mind.
The Hurt Locker
My Rating : 5/5
Directed by : Kathryn Bigelow
Featuring : Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
If you want to see a movie that grabs hold of you by the shoulders and rattles you, see The Hurt Locker. This movie, in one word, can be summed up as intense. Very intense. The story revolves around 3 members of the Bravo company, who form the bomb disposal squad – Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). James came in to replace Sergeant Matt Thompson (Guy Pearce), who was killed while trying to defuse an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The 2 original members of the team try their level best to control their somewhat fearless, bordering on reckless new team leader.
The movie attempts to analyse and portray the psychology of the soldiers fighting in Iraq, and, in my opinion, succeeds. You’ve got James, the reckless bomb disarmer, with a gung-ho attitude; Sanbourne, who’s the real backbone of the entire team, and Eldridge, who is a nervous wreck through most of the movie.
James’ refusal to adhere to protocol, may result in a greater success rate at disarming bombs, and earn him his superiors’ praise, but it does not improve his somewhat strained relations with his teammates. The chemistry between the 3 protagonists is a plus point for the movie. You know Sanborn and Eldridge resent James to a certain extent, and it comes through at several instances. The tension is palpable, and you can feel it, in many scenes.
Also, the movie portrays less of real action. It’s the suspense that’s the real clincher for this movie. The team, inevitable, views anything and everything as a threat, which is not surprising. They are in a hostile environment, with a possible remote detonation imminent, and the natural conclusion is that anyone taking an unhealthy interest in the proceedings is considered a threat.
But the movie is not just about bombs blowing up. There is a particular scene, where one of our protagonists breaks into a house to pursue the killers of an innocent boy, and instead he meets a professor, who he holds at gunpoint, who just tells him:
You are a guest. Please…sit down.
I think this is one of the most important dialogues in the entire movie. It dawns upon him, that he is nothing but a temporary presence in the country. However, once he leaves the country, and returns, he is emotionally scarred. He constantly ponders over the war, the innocent civilians being killed, and eventually makes the decision to return to Iraq, this time for a 1 year stint with Delta company.
The cinematography in the movie really stands out. You’ve got super slow motion cameras to capture stuff like explosions and shells ejecting out of rifles, and that just makes the whole thing even more beautiful and surreal at one and the same time. Although a good amount of the movie is shot on cameras which are hand-held, it just adds to the raw action. While a bomb is being disarmed, the scene is shown from several different angles, including what it must look like to an onlooker, which just adds to the suspense. There isn’t much in terms of score, but what little does exist, blends in perfectly. More of a tension-builder, than a space-filler, really. But it works well.
Kathryn Bigelow does an amazing job of putting the grittiness and challenges of serving in Iraq on the screen. The story throws light on those parts of the war story that aren’t told often. This is a war movie unlike most others. And for that reason along, it deserves credit. Taking a stereotyped subject, and telling the story in a completely fresh way is indeed deserving of an award or two (6 Oscars, 72 wins and another 46 nominations at last count).
But the movie must be taken with a pinch of salt. As many real-life bomb disarming squad members say, no one is really as reckless and stupid as James, and that the movie, in general, is nothing but a big joke. Anyway, my point is that if you haven’t seen this movie already, you must get your hands on a copy immediately. The reason why I gave it a 5/5, is that there is very little that I can find wrong in this movie. That’s how I rate movies. I don’t look for the good stuff, I look for the stuff that might put you off, and frankly, this movie doesn’t have much to offer in that field.