The Hurt Locker (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty) – Iraq war films have all bombed (excuse the pun) at the box office. If you want to know what the war feels like, The Hurt Locker seems to be the most realistic. Director Kathryn Bigelow, who has directed a number of movies (the only one I remember was Point Break), extends herself to create a gritty, tense film about a three-man bomb squad. I can’t remember a major war movie directed by a woman, but this is a fine one. The three young actors aren’t well known, which creates credibility as their performances look real. Actually both Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty appeared together in We Are Marshall, the Matthew McConaughey vehicle. Mackie appeared in Half Nelson, the film that earned Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination. He also appeared in the moderately successful Notorious as Tupac Shakur. Geraghty has had several parts, the most notable of which was in Bobby. But the lead in this film is Jeremy Renner, who plays staff sergeant William James, the guy who diffuses IEDs, the improvised bombs that have been so lethal in the Iraq war. James is fearless, experienced, and perhaps insane. He is never calmer than when he is pushing the envelope in an incendiary situation. Of course, he isn’t really cold as ice but he is clearly “the man.” So far, he has disabled more than 800 IEDs. When asked by a colonel (in a cameo by David Morse) how he diffuses a bomb, he says “in whatever way doesn’t kill me.” (or something like that).
Cameos during the film introduce you to a British squad led by Ralph Fiennes playing an unnamed team leader as well as a gung-ho sergeant played by Guy Pearce. They add star power to the film without overwhelming it. Bigelow pulls no punches as she portrays the war and keeps the focus on the servicemen and not the politics. The best scene and climax of the film involves a middle-age man who is a would-be suicide bomber with second thoughts. The Iraq war is one Americans regret even as they salute the men and women who fight it. This film gives you a realistic slice of the danger those soldiers face every day in a land where they are not much wanted and facing an enemy with no respect for human life. The Hurt Locker is not an easy movie to watch but it is finely crafted art.