The Hurt Locker

What are the best modern war films? And by "modern war film" I mean about wars since Vietnam, not recent movies made about World War II and whatnot. I racked my brain and could only think of two: Black Hawk Down and Three Kings. Notice that neither of these films are about the current war in Iraq. Sure, there have been a bunch of movies that cover the most recent Iraq war, but most of them have been critical and commercial failures. Rendition, Redacted, In the Valley of Elah, Stop-Loss, Grace is Gone, all collapsed pretty quickly. In fact, all those films looked so bad that I didn't bother to see a single one.

What's with all the failures? Is the Iraq war still too present? Are they too preachy or one-sided? I don't know. But what I do know is that it finally seems like we have an Iraq war film that's worth its weight. The Hurt Locker is an extraordinary film. It's not trying to push any message. It presents its soliders and its war in the most truthful way possible.

The Hurt Locker (directed by Kathryn Bigelow) follows the arc of Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner, career-making performance). It is the responsibility of James, along with Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Gerahty) to disarm the deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq.

The film doesn't have an overall arc. We set down with the squadron and stay with them over the course of their 38 remaining days in Iraq. The movie is mostly a series of episodes, different bombs to disarm, different tasks to do, as I'm sure it is being an actual solider. The tension of the film stems from the bomb disarmaments and, more specifically, how James approaches them. Jeremy Renner plays James as a loose cannon, someone for whom war, as the film states early on, is a drug.

The Hurt Locker is less of a drama and more of an action thriller. There are four scenes involving roadside bombs and a shootout in the desert that are some of the most tense and invigorating scenes I've seen in a while. The Hurt Locker is one of the year's best so far.

Wade: 5 out of 5 stars

Kinsey: 4.5 out of 5 stars