Emotionally draining

Rating: Null/10 (16 September 2009)

This is an unusual film in a number of respects: an action movie directed by a woman, Kathryn Bigelow's first work for five years, a war movie that is non-judgmental, and a story with no real narrative arc but instead a series of more-or-less stand-alone sequences. The location is in and around Bagdad (although it was shot in Jordan) in the early part of the US occupation of Iraq (2004) and the focus is entirely on a three-man bomb disposal team: its thrill-seeking leader Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremey Renner), experienced African-American J T Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and young Specialist Owen Eldridge.
In an interview with the "Guardian" newspaper, a former bomb disposal officer with Britain's Royal Engineers commented: "This film appalled me" and "The fundamental stupidity is just staggering" - so I guess it lacks something in authenticity. But, as a movie, it works incredibly well with from the opening seconds an involved style of cinematography and such sustained tension that at the end one leaves the cinema feeling emotionally drained.