A man lost in a foreign land.

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2010)

The Hurt Locker does not attempt to make a statement on the United States' condition in Iraq, nor does it try to explain the technological aspects of how to diffuse a bomb. All of this is assumed as the first thing we see on screen is a title card reading, "war is a drug." Of course this only applies to some people, but it definitely applies to Sergeant William James, the new leader of an EOD squad in Iraq.
For James, the ability to put on a large suit and walk up to a detonator and try to stop it from going off is a pleasure; he revels where most men would refuse to go once, much less hundreds of times, which James claims to have done. This attitude towards his work isolates many of the people around him, more specifically the two men he is to work in close proximity with, Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). Both think he's crazy to want to be that close to the action that much, but what can they do but cover for him and hope he doesn't die? Director Kathryn Bigleow is a name many may not know real well or at least associate with top-notch suspense. She will almost certainly get the attention she deserves now. With every scene, she builds to a climax you know is coming, just not when. She affirms herself the old Hitchcockian rule of suspense: a bomb under a table goes off is action, a bomb under a table not going off is suspense. In this case, a bomb actually applies. Story-wise, there doesn't seem to be much of one, which could be one of the few quirks people have about it. But, as I said before, this film is not trying to make a statement about the war nor give us hardly any insight into what entails the jobs of these men. Even still, there is a slight thread of the Sgt. James character, who is essentially addicted to the adrenaline rush of gambling with his life while trying to take apart a bomb.
As for James, it is with the complete performance by Jeremy Renner that totally sucks you into this movie. You know he isn't like other soldiers; he has a more sadistic sense of humor, he goofs off quite a bit and takes his job and himself way too loosely. Yet, perhaps for these reasons we like him and follow every step of the way he moves, tensely wondering what will happen next.
As the Oscars approach, the race for Best Picture almost certainly comes down to two films of the most ironic of senses. The Hurt Locker, made for $11 million and barely getting a theatrical release and directed with sheer intensity by Kathryn Bigelow goes up against Avatar, that monumental giant of a 3D blockbuster, made for over $230 million and grossing over $2 billion worldwide, directed by none other than Bigelow's ex-husband, James Cameron. For my money, The Hurt Locker deserves the big prize more if only because it goes deep to penetrate to some of the most human conditions: fear of death, fear of life, fear of what might happen to us in the next moment. Bigelow should almost certainly win the Best Director Oscar, and how deserving she will be. For it takes great skill and bravery to give us a war film that talks so little about the war, we start to forget what this guy is doing this for; his country or himself?