One two hour long adrenaline rush

Rating: 9/10 (18 October 2013)

The quote at the beginning of this movie defines pretty much what this movie is about and that is that war is a drug. There have been a number of books and films that have explored this theme, and The Hurt Locker is not necessarily the best (though it is one wild adrenaline rush anyway) and it will not necessarily be the last. Which reminds me that I really should put Apocalypse Now on my to watch list because that film has a very similar theme to this one.
The Hurt Locker is not necessarily a pro or anti Iraq War film, but rather it is a film that simply looks at what is. In fact the only reason that it is set in Iraq is because that is the war that we are most familiar with, and it is also the war in which we will encounter a number of veterans. However, there is little difference in nature between this war any the countless of other wars that have been raged over the Earth. The sad fact is is that soldiers who fight in wars have great difficulty readjusting from war to be able to settle back into civilian life.
The film follows the exploits of an elite bomb disposal squad in Iraq, and it is filmed in such a way that the film feels a lot more real than not. The camera shakes, the sounds of Bagdad are heard in the background, and the actors are able to play their roles as if they were real people as opposed to an actor simply playing some imaginary character for some big screen movie. The other thing is that the explosions came across as a lot more realistic as well.