What being addicted to war looks like

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2015)

The Hurt Locker takes place during the Iraq war and follows an experienced explosive ordnance disposal. Sergeant First Class William James arrives in Iraq to replace a member of a three man team that finds and disables bombs that has become a major threat to Untied States troops in the warzone. James displays a lack of concern for safety and leads the team into dangerous situations. This causes problems between James and the two other team members Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge. Sanborn and Eldridge and causes after going through the loss of their other team member and want James to change how he is handling the situations they are placed in.
The theme of The Hurt Locker is how service members can become addicted to war. During the film James seems to feed off the adrenalin given to him by the dangers they encounter in a warzone. He is not understood by his teammates Sanborn and Eldridge because they don't understand his addiction to the danger. This film also demonstrates how complex relationships can be when lives are on the line and a person's decisions could have a grave impact on others. The theme of being addicted to war relates to the film American Sniper which displays another service member that has a hard time leaving the war.
The angles taken during this film have a major impact on the feeling viewers can. When the team gets called out to bomb sights the angles give the viewers a whole picture of the situation. When bombs are discovered the close up angles show how challenging bomb disposal is. During the arguments between team members the camera goes back and forth to assist viewers follow the heated moments. Each scene uses angles to enhance the viewer's awareness of the situation and helps give the full picture of the circumstances.
An area of the techniques that really adds to the story is the sound effects used during this film. Warzones are loud and sounds help reinforce the chaos to the viewers. When the bomb explodes on James the sound effects show how powerful the explosive was. In a war movie sounds are needed to make the film realistic and this film uses every sound possible to help relay the situation to the viewers.