Cinema Crazed

2009

Rated: R for graphic violence and adult language.

Genre: Drama

Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow

Running Time:

Review by: Momar Van Der Camp

Review Date: 8/16/09

THE HURT LOCKER

This movie sits on the shoulders of the lead actor, Jeremy Renner, one of the growing number of no-name actors who do such amazing work in everything they do that you want to see a movie just specifically for them.

He’s been in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 28 Weeks Later, SWAT, The Unusuals TV series, and countless other things that you can find him from. But this should be his star turn.

This is an amazing movie and especially an amazing war movie. One that we get very few and far between with so many war movies just waving the flag (GI Joe) or using special effects to tell the story (Transformers), here we have a movie about war and what it does to real people.

How it changes them and what it takes from them.

And it’s unflinching. It’s the first really interesting look at the current war in Iraq that you have to just stand up and clap. Because they aren’t asking you to cry for anyone. The movie tells a story and you feel for the characters, but you feel for them like they’re men that you know, that you met once upon a time and lost touch with.

This is a movie about real people.

And that is why Jeremy Renner and all the major cast do such an amazing job: they feel like real people going through real events and acting like you and I would. Taking chances they shouldn’t take and making decisions they shouldn’t but are forced to.

This is one of the best films of the year so far. Moon, District 9, and Hurt Locker are some of my favorite films this year and it makes me excited for films again.

The only thing bad about this film, besides that it ends, is the slew of one-off scenes with people you’ve seen elsewhere. Guy Pearce is in one very awesome scene at the very beginning of the film. David Morse from Hack and the Green Mile is in one scene. Evangeline Lilly from Lost is in 2 scenes. Ralph Fiennes who's been in everything from the Reader to Harry Potter is in one scene.

It’s almost like you’re asking who could pop up next and you just have no idea why these people show up. Thankfully they only show up very rarely and very briefly and then they’re gone.

By far the best Iraq war movie specifically about the current war in Iraq and one of the best war films ever made. A movie with real people and real drama, it doesn’t let up. It just goes and goes and you’re left wondering what’s next. And the best thing is, when it ends, you want to see what happens next. One of the best films of the year by far.

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