THE
HURT
LOCKER
With
Jeremy
Renner,
Anthony
Mackie,
Brian
Geraghty,
Guy
Pearce,
Ralph
Fiennes,
David
Morse,
Evangeline
Lilly
Written
by Mark
Boal
Directed
by Kathryn
Bigelow
Those
believing
a woman
cannot
tell
a male
dominated
story
set
in a
very
real
situation
will
have
to eat
their
words
after
seeing
The
Hurt
Locker.
Kathryn
Bigelow's
Oscar
win
may
be seen
by some
as a
political
prerequisite,
both
in the
fact
that
a female
director
has
never
earned
that
honour,
and
of course
the
movie's
topical
subject
matter.
With
movies
being
such
a subjective
experience
for
a viewer
(depending
on the
individual
taste
of the
audience
members,
their
mood
when
watching
the
movie,
and
in this
case
your
stance
on war
and
religious
affiliation),
not
everyone
will
take
away
the
same
feelings
from
this
one.
As Vietnam
weighed
heavily
on the
American
conscience
(eventually
opening
the
floodgates
for
movies
dealing
with
the
theme),
the
current
situation
in the
post-Hussein
Iraq
is hardly
one
of stability,
and
the
amount
of movies
dealing
with
the
subject
has
been
few
&
far
between.
When
it comes
to the
building
of tension
ina
motion
picture,
there
are
few
situations
more
effective
than
the
suspense
milked
from
a bomb
disposal
scene.
The
Hurt
Locker
however
makes
this
concentrated
subject
very
real,
tense,
human,
and
above
all
effective
without
cheap
tricks.
The
focus
of a
US bomb
disposal
trio
in the
middle
of Iraq
captures
the
danger,
stress,
conflict,
madness
and
emotions
drawn
from
a life
threatening
job
such
as that,
and
keeps
the
audience
right
there
from
the
start.
One
of the
few
jarring
elements
however
(more
from
a technical
aspect)
that
distracted
me was
the
sometimes
pretentious
hand
held
effect.
A nice
addition
comes
in the
shape
of big
name
actors
in secondary
supporting
roles
like
Fiennes,
Pearce
and
Morse,
with
lesser
known
actors
in the
leads
(however
Oscar
nominated
Jeremy
Renner
made
an impressive
turn
in 28
Weeks
Later,
also
in a
military
role).
Some
of the
impacting
tracks
on the
sparse,
downplayed
Marco
Beltrami
&
Buck
Sanders
soundtrack
is the
apt
inclusion
of songs
from
Al Jourgensen's
Ministry
album
Rio
Grande
Blood,
which
digs
deeply
into
the
George
W. Bush
/ Iraq
situation.
War
is not
pretty,
from
whichever
perspective,
whether
justified
or not
- and
The
Hurt
Locker
makes
for
an admirable
addition
to the
ranks
of American
themed
conflict
movies
like
Apocalypse
Now,
Platoon,
Full
Metal
Jacket
and
Saving
Private
Ryan.
PS.
It is
ironic
how
Bigelow
beat
her
ex James
Cameron's
record
breaking
Avatar
in all
the
top
Oscar
spots
(incl.
Best
Picture,
-Director,
-Screenplay,
-Editing,
-Sound,
and
-Sound
Editing
- plus
a list
more
including
BAFTAs,
film
festival
and
film
society
award
wins,
Golden
Globe
and
other
nominations).
5
/ C
- Paul
Blom
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