The film follows an elite Army bomb squad unit in Iraq in 2004. Their job is to get rid of bombs or potential explosive threats in any area. When the groups leader dies in an accident, the two remaining members (played wonderfully by Anthonie Mackie and Brian Geraghty) gain a new Staff Sergeant, William James (Jeremy Renner). William does things his way. He doesn't wear the bomb diffusional suit, he doesn't communicate with his squad, and he almost leads them all to certain death multiple times.
The greatest aspect of the Hurt Locker is how intense each scene gets. When dealing with bombs for 131 minutes, you know that anything can happen and anything can go boom, at any time. This lead me to sweaty palms for nearly 2 hours. The suspense of knowing what will happen is almost too much, in a good way of course.
The other amazing this the movie does is character develop. This isn't a normal War film. They take time to show us the vulnerable sides of each character, particularly William. His character is addicted to the adrenaline of defusing bombs, and when things go to smoothly, he's forced to act out in a way that will make his heart rate jump. This dilemma leads to some intense scenes. William is such an interesting character in that we hate him, but the moment he puts the suit on he becomes a badass who you root for.
The action in the movie is greatly paced and feels incredibly real, particularly a sniper shootout scene. The whole film throughout really hammers the point that War is a Drug. At least for some people, and how war affects everyone differently. Please go see this movie. Please. Grade - A
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