Kathryn Bigelow's deft touch...

Rating: 10/10 (26 February 2010)

THE HURT LOCKER is presented in a matter-of-fact, documentary-like fashion that underscores the average, everyday routine of the hardly average, day-to-day routine of disarming bombs in a war zone. Bigelow DOES pick a side, but any side would do in such a scenario; it's not the Right or Wrong of anything but diffusing an explosive situation (which is a play on words, there, of course; forgive). The faces, totally unfamiliar to me (as, I must confess, are the faces of many of those who've gone and fought in that particular Far Off Land, though not all by any means), make the performances less than the usual Hollywood "given" performances (and thereby enhances the already heightened suspense). The last shot is absolutely brilliant. See it. But don't forget to keep your head down.