Tweet      

2 1/2 Stars

The Hurt Locker tells the story an Army bomb squad, led by SSG William James (Jeremy Renner), as it travels across Iraq disarming situations more than bombs. The film is incredibly unbelievable and seems to be based more on the idea of bomb disarmament than truth. Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty work well together and lend some sort of credibility to the film. The majority of loss is generated by the characters themselves, instead of the war they were thrust into. It seems as if everyone has a death wish here, making decisions that no sane individual would make (and thus go against their training as well). This lends a lack of suspense to the actual bomb disarming scenes. The military is portrayed as a bunch of bumbling fools that are unable to get their act together. Without these three soldiers playing Rambo across the Iraqi landscape, nothing would get done.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty