CINEMA: The Hurt Locker

It’s been a long time since director Kathryn Bigelow made a film as good as The Hurt Locker, but this tale of bomb disposal officers in Iraq is tense, thrilling and much more exciting and entertaining than either of the other two big name films out this week.

In the heat, dust and fear of modern-day Iraq, bomb disposal squaddies Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) are distraught when they lose their trusted, safety-conscious sergeant (Guy Pearce) in an everyday disposal mission gone wrong. Enter the somewhat psychotic replacement Sergeant James (Jeremy Renner) who blithely ignores safety procedures, refuses to keep his safety gear on (“If I’m going to die, I’m going to die comfortable”) and seems to get a perverse frisson of pleasure out of dicing with death.

His devil-may-care attitude soon has Sanborn and Eldridge incandescent with rage as it is not just his own life he is playing with, but theirs too. The spiky relationship between the three men, which throws up some mordant gallows humour, comes to a head when they confront a group of men some miles out in the desert only to discover they are undercover British forces (led by Ralph Fiennes) on a special mission. When the group is attacked by insurgents Sanborn and Eldridge discover that beneath James’ braggadocio exterior beats a true soldier’s heart – cool under pressure, calculating and brave.

However, it is that same soldier’s heart that stops James from settling when he returns to his wife and baby in the States at the end of his tour of duty. In one pivotal scene that encapsulates why James craves the adrenaline thrill of disarming bombs over civilian life, he stands in a supermarket aisle surrounded on either side by rows and rows of breakfast cereal – it is a world away from the smell of napalm and the taste of fear.

Bigelow directs with a steady hand, letting the story tell itself without too many pyrotechnic interruptions (and those that are included are necessary to the narrative) and never getting in the way of the excellent script by Mark Boal, who perfectly encapsulates the human frailty of men who are trained not only to protect life, but also to take it.

Although not major league yet, this leading role from Jeremy Renner should catapult him straight into the big time as his James is cocky, slightly demented, fiercely driven and yet still vulnerable. The fact you leave the cinema understanding what makes this man tick is testament to his acting abilities.

Dee Pilgrim