REVIEW: The Hurt Locker (2009)
The Hurt Locker
Rated: R
Runtime: 130 minutes
Starring: Jeremy Renner
My rating: 4 stars
—
—
What is The Hurt Locker? That question is probably the most interesting to debate with your friends after you see the film.
Does it signify how SSgt. William James deals with trauma, bottling it away over a lifetime? Is it a metaphor for the entire Iraq war? Is it what soldiers call the room where they place their fallen comrade's possessions?
Whatever the case, the film is good, but not for everyone. Intensity and suspense are added characters to the film, which is about James (Jeremy Renner) and his addiction to war. He's a wild, adrenaline junkie who feels the only place he fits is out in the field, fighting and diffusing bombs.
I wish I had sat with an Army soldier while watching it to see how accurate it is, not just in facts, but also in culture. How would James have been treated being that he's so drastically different and his attitude toward the seriousness of war so light? I know I would have been fed up with him.
But then an interesting thing happens. Even the lightest, most carefree individual, under extreme pressure and circumstance, is able to grasp the gravity of the situation. That's what finally makes James human.
Before his squad is ambushed while traveling across the the desert, James is cracking jokes, making fun of other soldiers, and overall just being obnoxious. It's cartoonish. When two go down, his attitude changes and he turns into a supportive comrade who protects his fellow man, no matter their differences. It's a pivotal moment in the film and it finally gave some depth to James.
The rest of the characters – JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) – could come or go. There wasn't nothing remarkable or particularly moving about either one. They are there to fill the space in James' life. He's seen the same type of people many times before in his many other assignments. He knows what makes them tick and what ticks them off.
Writer Mark Boal doesn't spend much time dealing with those characters after their initial setup. Instead, he focuses on the subtleties in the character, like how James deflects questions about the scars across his chest. Are they cigarette burns? Could it be shrapnel? All it tells the audience is that he's been through hell, physically.
What director Kathryn Bigelow delivers is a first-person feel to The Hurt Locker. The camera isn't following the squad, it's one of them. It's there through the gunfights, bomb diffusions and recovery efforts. It's James' best friend.
That's the only way the audience can connect because war, for those that aren't in it, is so foreign it's nearly incomprehensible. Most films of this type don't give the audience the feeling of being there. The movies still feel distant. This, though, smacks you in the face. Four stars.
—
Follow me on Netflix and see what I'm watching, rating and exclusive lists of personal favorites. Just click "Save to Faves."
—
Where it's playing:
Canton/PotsdamSHOWTIMES
Watertown SHOWTIMES
