The Hurt Locker is a real action movie. It is suspenseful, entertaining, thrilling, and uses action only when necessary. This is a great war movie, but also simply a great movie. The Hurt Locker is action-packed, and tells a fictional story that comes from true events. True events that occurred in Iraq and shows the courage and risks that our soldiers take every day.
The Hurt Locker focuses on the Army’s elite bomb squad called Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). The soldiers that are a part of this group are highly skilled and smart when it comes to bombs and explosives. It is up to them to disarm them no matter what. These bombs may be on the side of streets, in vehicles, or strapped to someone’s chest. The risks that these men take are unbelievable and unimaginable.
We follow three men who are in the EOD: Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brain Geraghty). As the audience, we get a close-up and personal view of what these men go through each day and the situations they run in to. These guys volunteer to fight for our country and they literally make life or death decisions. But they do this to keep the streets safe for Iraqis and Americans.
The movie does more than just show what these men do. You get to know who these men are and the families they left behind. Of course, there are not just issues with the Iraq war. Like a family, these guys get in to fights with each other and battle every once in awhile. James is always in the middle of these because he is a rebel in the EOD. His methods are seen as wild and out of control. He puts other soldiers’ lives in danger. And maybe there is some truth to that. But he is good. Really good.
There are so many fights that go on in this movie, and the biggest fight is the one with themselves. The struggle of trying to keep it together for your team. Do not show weakness. These guys miss home and their families. The soldiers want to go home, but the home they know may be gone or perhaps looks completely different. These characters go through a lot and see a lot, and they keep going. They keep fighting.
This movie has a fantastic director and she’s a woman. Now this shouldn’t matter, but I know some people think only guy directors can do good action movies. Well, that is completely false. Kathryn Bigelow puts the audience right in to the action. She focuses on the characters and doesn’t let the action sequences tell the story. But when there are action sequences, they aren’t pointless. Michael Bay could learn a few things from her.
Then there is the great cast. Renner, Mackie, and Geraghty play the three young bomb explosive experts and they are so good and believable in their roles. These are three young actors who carry this movie and put everything they have in to it and it shows on the screen. There are also some veterans surrounding these great young talents. There are cameos by Guy Pearce, David Morse, and Ralph Fiennes. Every one who is a part of the cast are fantastic and really tell an exciting and emotional story.
The Hurt Locker has everything you would want in a movie. On top of that, it tells a heroic story and brings attention to a bomb squad that most people have no idea who they are or what they do. But I guarantee after this movie you will and you will never forget it.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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