Good film, but by no means a great one

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2010)

I recently watched this on DVD. I saw the nominations, I saw the reviews, and this was from the talented female director of Point Break, a film I'm very fond of. So my excitement at watching this was very high. Unfortunately, in what seems to be a constant tread at the moment, this film for me doesn't quite justify the hype. Damn those over eager critics who refer to this as a "nerve shredding masterpiece". It's not by the way.
Don't get me wrong. This is a good film. It reminded me of "Tigerland", the 2000 film which starred Colin Farrell. In that film Colin played a character who's a bit of a rebel, a bit of a risk taker, a guy who doesn't seem to give a damn, and the lead actor here displays similar characteristics. He is played with confidence by Jeremy Renner and he is one to watch in the future. He was apparently very close to being offered Mad Max 4 based on his performance in this.
The style of this film is down and dirty gritty, all shaky cam to give that documentary style to proceedings. The story if you're not familiar is very simple. A bomb disposal team stationed in Iraq defuse bombs, and each one becomes riskier than the last. There is some combat in between each bomb threat and some character development within the team. We see how the new leader to the bomb disposal group goes about his job, which surprises the rest due to his almost reckless attitude and daring personality. He doesn't think, he just does and this causes some conflict within the group. It also makes for some tense moments and some interesting character conflicts.
On a more disappointing level, there are parts of this film where not a lot happens, and although this may be true to life, it doesn't exactly make for riveting entertainment. Talky interludes between the action made me lose interest from time to time. Scenes that you think are leading somewhere don't really lead anywhere. A subplot for example involving our lead going on a quest to find the killer of a young local boy takes him to a house and a confrontation with a suspect, only for our lead to run out of the house again and back to base camp. That was a bit pointless mate! Did you just need a jog? As i've said, this is a good film. at best it's tense and gritty, and it's shot in a documentary style, and it has a good cast doing a good job. Just don't expect a ... what was it ... a "nerve shredding masterpiece". If you want that, go watch "Eden Lake" or "Inside"