The Hurt Locker (2009)

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Dir.: Kathryn Bigalow
Country: USA
Genre: Suspense, War, Drama

“That Devon Sawa sure turned things around for himself,” I thought after seeing promos for The Unusuals after Lost on ABC, and after seeing the trailer for this film.  Yes, well, we can’t all be on all of the time… my apologies Mr. Renner for assuming you were in Final Destination, Idle Hands and the covers of numerous tween pop mags.

I’ve mentioned my hesitancy towards the war-genre before, and time after time I am reminded of why I need to shed that ridiculous fear I have, as I continue to discover these mind-blowing films. But The Hurt Locker doesn’t quite glorify the action of war like a lot of films tend to do. Instead, it steadies its bomb-defusing hand on a very unbiased viewpoint. It doesn’t quite pose the questions of “why” like Jarhead does, and it doesn’t dwell on the “what for” like Saving Private Ryan, but rather just does its duty without questioning. And its duty is to be as suspenseful as any movie can possibly be.

From the beginning scene of the film until quite literally the last second, this film executes some of the greatest on-screen tension I’ve felt since No Country For Old Men. Each scene builds its own arc of suspense, which creates a palpable sense of uneasiness. But this on-edge feeling is never alienating as each scene also contributes to the whole picture developing the story and the characters with each course of action, (which these characters are some of the most in-depth I’ve seen in quite awhile.) Each moment feels like it could be the last for any of the characters. It’s a slowly constructed film, but at no point does it drag. It’s exactly precise (redundancy intended.)

Get ready to be sick of hearing about this film in the next six months. It’s that good.

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