The Hurt Locker

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2009)

Kathryn Bigelow's(The Weight of Water, Strange Days, Point Break)The Hurt Locker was the winner of last years Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The American war thriller was shot on location in Jordan and is based on declassified information about a U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team in present day Iraq. Jeremy Renner(28 Days Later) plays the leader of the EOD team who has to defuse bombs while a full on war is exploding around him and his team.
The authenticity of the film hits like an unexploded bomb, as many of the locations were less than three miles from the Iraqi border, plus all of the Iraqi roles in the film were played by displaced Iraqi war refugees living in Jordan. Renner trained with real EOD teams prior to shooting the film. On set, he had rocks thrown at him and even got shot at while filming.
The film also stars Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, and Anthony Mackie, although it is Renner's performance as a man who faces the prospect of death on a daily basis that truly stands out. Bigelow's usual flair for visual poetry and exhilarating actions sequence never skips a beat.
Ginger Liu
http://www.examiner.com/x-2744-Inside-Hollywood-Examiner