A great character study from a great filmmaker

Rating: 9/10 (5 March 2010)

The return of Bigelow (from her last film in 2002) is as a great political thriller as a skillfully created (and acted), emotional character study of a team of bomb experts in Iraq (film shootings in locations of Jordan), their daily "face to death" activities disarming bombs, their concerns about the meaning of every war, their inability to rest peacefully when they return home as they can't understand any other world except this one they can handle. Intense and thrilling in every scene (what a great opening sequence!), the script (from Mark Boal) allows the characters to be judged from their actions, a star making performance from Oscar - nominated Jeremy Renner (also Anthony Mackie near to perfection, Bigelow, Boal and Renner all deserved Academy Awards, probably best film of this year