Hurt Locker, 4 stars
Kathryn Bigelow’s multi-oscar winner Hurt Locker was a good war movie and a far worthier of the best movie accolade’s than the blueskinned monstrosity by the director’s ex-husband.
The film’s subjects form a bomb squad in IED-plagued Iraq. The ever-present stress of the profession turns into a sustaining high for the protagonist. Jeremy Renner plays the high-strung yet skillful expert with an expert undercurrent of unpredictable menace. The highest profile members of the cast are gone in minutes, the stage is set for lesser known actors. All of whom do excel in their roles as bomb squad members.
Watched the movie off a dvd, and the forty inch television is no replacement for viewing massive explosions on the movie screen. The film never descends into the depths of pyrotechnological porn despite the subject. After all it was shot using 16-millimeter equipment for a less refined image.
Hurt Locker is a good film, but hardly the definitive film about the conflict in Iraq.
