Bigelow helms an Oscar-worthy look at the war in Iraq with a truly stunning turn by Renner; one of the year's best.

Rating: 10/10 (27 July 2009)

THE HURT LOCKER (2009) **** Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly. Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow's absorbingly, nerve- jangling, Oscar worthy look at the war in Iraq is bold, original and powerful thanks largely to the anchored performance of Renner (seriously should be nominated for Best Actor), as a cool- as-a-cucumber, Unorthodox US Army Staff Sergeant whose mission is to disarm bombs upon combat situations with a team of two others (Mackie and Geraghty equally affective) while jeopardizing the chaos surrounding the trio in constant harms' way. Loaded with enough teeth-clenching, sweat-inducing anxiety and stress the you-are-there-approach echoes Stone's "PLATOON" and Spielberg's "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" and the film joins the ranks of those two exceptional war films as an elite force unto itself. One of the year's very best and a must see.