The Hurt Locker
Every year we get a couple of Iraq war movies and they always turn out to be flops. The Hurt Locker doesn’t star big names but is getting the best reviews of the year. This movie doesn’t display the usual anti-American sentiment. It doesn’t treat our soldiers as evil (unlike Avatar), or as stupid, and drunk hoodlums. It shows the psychological effects on soldiers who know any day could be their last. This provides for some good drama as most war movies do. Although I thought it was well directed and well acted, there wasn’t enough there for me to call it a good movie.
The movie stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty as officers William, JT, and Owen. They are a bomb squad in Iraq who are called on to disable road bombs. If you have watched any news on the Iraq war you will probably know, there are a lot of road bombs out there. William is the bomb specialist in the group that has to get up and close to these bombs and disable them. JT and Owen watch his back and assist him in these missions. William is also the new guy in the group and immediately sets himself as a risk taker. JT on the other hand is cautious and plays everything by the book. This will bring William and JT at odds with each other throughout the movie. Owen agrees with JT and seems so nervous on missions that he is about to have a mental breakdown at any moment.
The movie is filled with several bomb disabling missions and then JT and William arguing back and forth about the missions. JT thinks Williams’s inability to listen to him and follow his commands is putting all their lives in danger. He likes to follow his own instincts and doesn’t seem to work with the team. I think most people would have to agree with JT it does seem like he is putting himself in danger over and over again instead of doing what is safe. Why does William act this way? William has such a determination to disable the bombs that it seems that he will die before giving up. Does he have nothing to live for? That doesn’t seem to be the case; he has a family waiting for him back home. It seems that he enjoys risking his life day in and day out more than going back to the safety of his home. I don’t understand why this is, and it’s one of the problems that bothered me throughout this movie.
Critics seem to love this movie for its thrills and intensity. I on the other hand didn’t feel tensed or thrilled. Disabling a bomb over and over again isn’t really that interesting. It takes about 10 minutes to put on the big suit and walk over to the bomb, and then another 10 minutes to disable it. It’s actually quite boring to watch and there are about 5 scenes just like that, that take over most of the movie. I was never scared for the characters because I figured hey they can’t die they are the main actors and I still have an hour left of this movie. When not disabling bombs JT is constantly getting after William which gets annoying and in one awkward scene they are fighting for no reason. Other scenes just drag on and seem to have no point to them. What is the goal for these soldiers in this movie? It seems to me that it is just to survive their round in combat until they get to go back home. It just doesn’t seem like a good enough reason for me to care about this movie.
Grade- D
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