Excellent

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2010)

The Hurt Locker was surprisingly good. I thought it was going to be another war movie, but it was more about humans and their characters.
Director Kathryn Bigelow scores big with this movie. Tightly written by Mark Boal, the story centers around soldiers doing the ultra-dangerous job of disarming bombs during combat operations. A new commander (a sergeant) is foolish in his approach, as though he couldn't care less about dying. So he puts his team in danger as well. There is a push and pull to keep this new commander from getting everyone killed, while the city falls into chaos with deadly hostility everywhere. The suspense is strong and the ending is surprising.
This is one of those "war" movies that doesn't really take a political stand, but focuses on human interaction. Bigelow handles the action and her actors extremely well. The whole cast, including those playing minor characters, gives honest performances. Good to see actors depicting characters in such situations with subtlety.