Great movie with an outstanding performance of Jeremy Renner

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2012)

'The Hurt Locker' is not your mainstream good guy versus bad guy thriller that we see way to often nowadays. The movie is located in Iraq and the movie follows the life of a bomb squad team. The movie keeps you at the edge of your seat even when the bomb-squad isn't defusing bombs and it gives the audience a very different view on the war in Iraq. The acting was really good with Anthony Mackie ( as Sergeant JT Sanborn) and Brian Geraghty ( as Specialist Owen Eldridge) but especially the performance of Jeremy Renner (as the reckless Sergeant William James) is literally outstanding. This by Kathryn Bigelow directed movie, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008 but was only available in America in June 2009. The movie had a budget of 15 million dollars and the movie lasts 131 minutes. The setting was chosen perfectly and the movie was filmed and edited really well, for instance when on a certain point in the movie a sniper rifle is fired and you see the bullet casing in slow-motion fall in the sand with such well chosen music on the background that you know something important is going to happen. The reckless behavior of Sergeant James is really annoying and concerning his team mates and you really feel their emotions and what they are thinking very well because of for example several dialogues between Sanborn and Eldridge and sometimes a facial expression might already be enough to see what the characters are experiencing. The movie also has several 'happy' moments like when they defuse a bomb but also moments were the characters are talking about family or when you see the characters in the evening just simply having fun under the influence of alcohol. Also when on certain moments you see that Sergeant James is being more of a team player and really changing into a more responsible person, However near the end of the movie you will ask yourself the question whether Sergeant really has changed during the movie or whether he is just the same reckless guy he was at the beginning of the movie One of the things I really consider interesting is how the movie shows how the people of Iraq treat and think about the American's 'helping' them. While the bomb squad is defusing the bomb, the people around are often not very helpful and ignore the instructions the Americans give them. You would think the Iraqi people would be concerned about the bomb and evacuate as fast as possible but this is not the case. The Iraqi people just watch from a close distance to what the squad is doing, Some are even filming the event. Also the squad drives around in a Humvee with a machine gun mounted on top of it. And there is a sign on the Humvee warning the people to stay away from the car or they risk the change of getting shot. This is again a thing the Iraqi people ignore, and even worse near the end you see small children throwing rocks at the Humvee. It other words it is really obvious the Americans aren't welcome and I think the Iraqi people even consider the Americans to be the reason of all the bomb plants in their country. I would definitely recommend this movie because as you might have noticed in my review, I really enjoyed the movie and this movie belongs according to me to the 25 best movies made in the 21st century so far.