Pulls all the right pins

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2009)

First of all, let me say how disappointed I am that hardly any theaters are showing this wonderful film. While almost every chain in town has two or three theaters for multiple showings of GI Joe, The Hurt Locker is a movie you practically have to hunt down to find. And, in this case, I'm glad I hunted it down. The last time I had to search all the theaters for a film, it was House of 1000 Corpses, a stinker to be sure, and that only made sense as to why so few theaters chose to carry the film. But in the case of The Hurt Locker, well, I'm sort of at a loss for the reasoning behind its lack of publicity.
This film will blow your doors off. While it's probably not an action-packed braindead bit of fluff like GI Joe, there are some fine action sequences that are more low-scale. Oh, yes, there are explosions, firefights, and some 50 caliber action, but it's not rammed into your eye sockets like so much of the usual popcorn fare these days. This flick delivers the goods on multiple levels. It's a war film with no war, just small skirmishes. This is why it's so intense. You don't have your usual enemy soldier. You have everyday people mixed in with bloodthirsty killers who are skilled at not only creating deadly roadside bombs, you also have secondary devices set to create as much collateral damage as possible. The acting is realistic. No one is trying to be the biggest badass out there--although James will make you wish all soldiers were as awesome as him. The direction is taut, the guerrilla cinematography goes for the jugular.
This is a good example of a pro-American war movie that doesn't ram a flag into your face every five seconds. It's about guys who are doing one of the scariest jobs in the military and what's more, they volunteer for it. You have two groups of people: one group that will go the distance for an ideal even if it means sacrificing themselves and those around them, including children, and then there is the other group, who also are willing to sacrifice themselves, but they are dedicated to saving lives of people who they will never meet and in most cases people who hate them even though they are saving lives instead of taking them. Granted, yes, it is "just a movie" but it certainly gives you more to think about than the usual Hollywooden films we normally get stuck with. You see the tension between fellow soldiers(some of it bordering on murder plots) and the sort of psychological breakdown that probably is not only all too common but also gravely undertreated by soldiers returning home.
Hats off to the brave soldiers who do this sort of job every day. I'd have stomach cancer inside of two weeks if I was in their boots.