"The Hurt Locker" is one of cinema's best war films that shows the full-hand war experience both mentally and physically.

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2014)

War is a drug. It becomes addictive to soldiers and people to keep causing. The war experience can change one's mental states and can physically destroy you. "The Hurt Locker" shows the full-hand war experience without an ongoing plot. Jeremy Renner plays William James, a sergeant during the Iraq war who has an incredibly dangerous job of deactivating-bombs. He works with Sergeant JT Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge. The three men battle through the dangers of Iraq, and show what the fighting experience is like. The men encounter various enemies and experience intense scenes involving countdowns before bombs go off, mysterious men pointing cameras at the soldiers, and loud shootouts. Katherine Bigelow directs each scenes with perfection, and portrays the Iraq war in a visionary way in which we get to see how the brave men and women fought for our country, even though they never should have. Mark Boal's screenplay involves the effect of war for the soldiers in physical and mental ways. He shows how they look and feel after fighting scenes and how grueling the war experience is with the heat, patience, and energy exerted in order to survive. Boal also shows how war emotionally changes people. All three sergeants let out their feelings that can be powerful and for Jeremey Renners character, psychotic. Will James really was damaged by his experiences, and eventually becomes accustom to his work. Bigelow shows how the American soldiers in Iraq were not really fighting anybody specific. The republicans in 2003 claimed it was Al Qaeda and that there were WMD's. Then we came up with the idea that were fighting terrorists from Islamic extremist groups. But really we see how we are mostly fighting just normal criminals and people trying to protect their country. Many Islamic terrorists were fought, but mainly we see how their are no specific targets and how unorganized and out of control the war really was. Similar to how out of control each soldiers life was. Many scenes are very long sequences that are similar to the war scenes in "Saving Private Ryan." Very intense, heart-pounding dramatic sequences make this intelligent thriller ever so important and entertaining as any war-film you'll ever see. "The Hurt Locker" isn't just for powerful and sad battle sequences, it has a profound message about the damage and filth that war contributes.