I honestly think that given enough time, Hollywood is going to understand how to create a great film about the Iraq War. In the eighties we observed the sixties and its impact on society and given another five or six years we’ll get the right film about the Iraq war that chronicles its impact on civilization. Few movies have done it successfully (“In the Valley of Elah” was excellent, though). That is until now where Kathryn Bigelow has managed to capture the chaotic fervor and flat out insanity of the occupation of a foreign land told through the eyes of three soldiers, one of whom happens to be a bomb specialist who takes risks time and again to ensure the safety of his platoon.
After losing their best man in a massive explosion, Bravo company, a team enlisted to ensure the safety of on patrol soldiers and local citizens is assigned a new commander in chief in the form of Sergeant William James, a daring specialist who leads his team through the jungle that is Iraq. Their occupation in Iraq leads them in to an all out urban war where the citizens are left to remain helpless at the mercy of the soldiers. On the track of intelligent bomb technicians, the trio immerse themselves in a battle of egos as their sanity fades amidst the death and destruction. The stand out among the cast (Give the man an Oscar!) is Jeremy Renner (a consistently overlooked Hollywood talent) gives a wonderful performance as the often cocky adrenaline addict Sergeant Williams who constantly takes risks in the movie that put him at odds with the platoon he’s assigned to lead.
His taste for near death situations make him an egomaniacal soldier who feels above the missions he’s assigned and this alienates the soldiers around him who view him as undependable and just utterly irresponsible. Renner is often the stand out in his supporting roles; here he proves that he has leading man status and could be capable of being one of Hollywood’s finest talents if ever given the proper vehicle. “The Hurt Locker” is finely tuned to the man’s ability to perfectly mimic a soldier during war time. As a worn out soldier in a hopeless wasteland, Renner perfectly conveys how much insanity and egotism go hand in hand.
Bigelow takes great steps in chronicling the pure chaos of the job and films some truly outstanding sequences that keep us looking through the eyes of Williams who is almost never afraid to deal with an explosive. Bigelow steps through the battlefield but never demonizes the country’s people. Instead she displays them as misguided individuals cloaked in the shadows who are either trying to kill Bravo Company or are forced to bear witness to their missions. Bigelow displays the ruthlessness of the fight to win the war and never shies away from the brutality a bit. For these reasons, “The Hurt Locker” steps up as one of the finest examples of modern warfare yet. Due for film classic status, Kathryn Bigelow’s study of the Iraq war and the dueling egos of the men fighting it ends up becoming one of the better Iraq war films ever made and quite honestly one of the best war films ever made.