Absolutely Deserving Of All Its Accolades.

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 2015)

Winner of 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Hurt Locker is a highly gripping, intensely thrilling & bone-chillingly suspenseful war drama that's expertly crafted, masterly composed & skilfully narrated from start to finish and, with its firm grip on the very element of suspense, delivers an experience that's destined to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats throughout its runtime.
Set during the Iraq War, the story of The Hurt Locker follows a bomb disposal squad that is assigned a new team leader after their previous boss is killed during one of their operations. The plot covers the relationship between the team members as the two subordinates soon find themselves at odds with the new guy for his maverick ways when it comes to disposing a bomb puts the lives of other officers at risk too.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker is arguably the finest work of her filmmaking career for the war atmosphere is brilliantly captured, every aspect is meticulously refined & the way she builds up the tension is worthy of praise. Every single sequence featuring our bomb disposal squad doing their job is nerve-wracking as hell, and while the story can be seen as an accumulation of similar-looking segments, the whole part does have a sensible core.
The set pieces & locations do provide an authentic feeling of being present in an unwanted territory where life hangs in the balance all the time. Camera-work is raw & immediate plus its controlled movements contribute immensely in elevating the film's nail-biting tension to an unbearable level. Editing is neatly executed too for its 131 minutes of story effortlessly sustains the suspense introduced within the film's opening moments, however, there are a few static moments in between.
Sound design always plays a vital role in war films & it's good to see it getting the attention it deserves here. The soundtrack by Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders beautifully blends into the narrative, and helps greatly in further amplifying the whole experience. The cast features the then-relatively unknown actors in Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie & others, with guest appearances from Guy Pearce & Ralph Fiennes, and there isn't really anything to complain because everyone of them delivers a truly committed performance.
Jeremy Renner is a revelation in the role of Sgt. First Class William James; the new head of the bomb disposal squad whose daredevil acts come off as reckless at first but as the film progresses, we slowly understand why he is the way he is. Anthony Mackie also chips in with a strong input as one of the team members, and his friction with Renner is the story's driving force. Guy Pearce & Ralph Fiennes do a commendable job in their guest roles, while the rest of the supporting cast are equally devoted to their given characters.
On an overall scale, The Hurt Locker is one of the most thrilling, suspenseful, unpredictable & intense war films to come out in a long time, and despite it having no clear antagonists or even a proper climax, remains a thoroughly engaging cinema from the first frame to the last. One of the best films about Iraq War, one of the finest films of its year, and definitely worthy of all its accolades, The Hurt Locker shows war as not just a primal descent into madness but also as a potent drug, as can be seen in the resolution of the lead character's arc. Highly recommended.