Spoilers, but nothing you weren't expecting. Plus this movies from 2008 so does it really matter? The Hurt Locker is a glorious deconstruction. It's a war film that presents our heroes as bad-asses that can walk toward a bomb without batting an eye, and then rip them to their core with the situations they encounter. This is a film that makes American Sniper look like a sloppy director with nothing to say and got too much money to do what he wanted (I was way to lenient on that film it's more like a 6/10 not an 8/10, not that I really have anything against Clint Eastwood.) But still there's good war movies and bad ones, and The Hurt Locker is one of them. So The Hurt Locker is about a bomb squad, and the way that they are effected by the war effort focussing mainly on a Sgt. James, played by Jeremy Renner. It's his journey that really forms the arch of the film, and his deconstruction that makes it so great. The first time that we see him on screen he's a very confident person. He goes up to the sight of the bomb area, gets in the bomb suit, and just goes and does his job with a smirk to go with it. This is actually, I think, a super effective way of getting the audience to connect to him. Renner just oozes confidence in his early scenes, and at first when he's on screen the audience is given some comfort with him because of that. I think that's one of the film's real secret weapons. The confidence conveyed at first is so effecting to the audience that when Sgt. James and his comrades start to break under the stress of the more stressful situations, the change is also extremely palpable. You get a look into these guys heads, and by the end of the film, you can tell all of these men are broken, with each of them hitting a breaking point. James's is particularly affecting. But on one hand I could say that the deconstruction wasn't fully explored. The film plays everything really straight, which means as far as emotional connection or, well, "feeling the insanity" it can't reach the surreal heights of Apocalypse Now, but honestly I feel that's ok. The reason is that Kathryn Bigelow is one hell of a director, and the quick cut handheld cam that she utilizes throughout the entire film makes it work. It makes the film feel claustrophobic which is good, and that helps ramp up the tension of the entire thing. Bigelow is known more for doing action films, and I'm glad that she brought those chops to this film, making everything very tight and thrilling. The Hurt Locker is a blast of a war film. It's stuffed to the brink with tension, and the action is thrilling. But even more thrilling is the way it follows its characters fast downward spirals...even if I wish it hadn't played so straight. I give The Hurt Locker a 9 out of 10. Reviewed by Stephen Tronicek.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |