"The Hurt Locker" is a film about a bomb squad in Iraq during a time when IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were rampant. There isn't much to spoil in this film because there is no real story. The film basically follows a 3-member team toward the end of their rotation - they have about 30 days left and their leader gets himself "blowed up good." A new team leader, in the form of a "Wildman" (Jeremy Renner) comes in, proceeds to run rampant and no one cares except the team members be puts into jeopardy.
That's it. Really.
There's car bombs, suicide bombs, body bombs (OMFG!) and
all kinds of devices that blow up. The Wildman is seemingly unconcerned about the length, depth or breath of any of these bombs - he's just gonna cut wires until they can't go boom anymore. His favorite approach to bomb diffusing is apparently at the end of a wire cutters and that's pretty much all there is to it, doncha' know?
There's the obligatory drinking-too-much scenes, the fighting-your-buddies scenes, and the this-is-a-crazy-mofo-war-isn't-it? scenes. Strung together, they're very episodic without much continuity (except the days to rotation countdown) or any real dramatic purpose. Somewhat like "Catch-22" except not nearly as amusing.
In an ending coda, you get the point of the juxtaposition of our American lives of peaceful excess and the insanity of the Iraqi war zone but that's not really enough of a thematic meal to stick to your symbolic ribs. You want more but Kathryn Bigelow ("After Dark") and the writer, Mark Boal, won't give it to you because, I suppose, this is supposed to be cinema verite-style filmmaking. Problem is, some of the "verite" scenes are so wholly unbelievable anyway and you wonder if it wouldn't have been better to just do a more traditional story that builds emotionally and has less verite.
What makes this movie work (when it does) are the tense moments when every shadow, every corner, every step could be a trigger or a bullet. Dying in Iraq feels like not a matter of if but of when. And that is a powerful and uncomfortable message. There's such a sense of fatalism so pervasive in this film - death lives in every sand dune and building. Plus the main character is an adrenalin junkie whose recklessness knows no bounds because he has no boundaries because he operates in a world of no boundaries. In one moment, the Wildman says "You know you can shoot people here. You don't have to throw wrenches at them." Hmmm. Interesting way to resolve a conflict, either way.
When one of the team members is wounded (it was inevitable) and he indicts the main character for being so reckless (also an inevitability) it's really anti-climatic. There's no insight here or to that scene - I can tease out the message but it probably could be a bit clearer so it could have had more impact. I know war is nucking futs; I know people get killed; I know even children and animals suffer. Tell me more - I'm hungry to know how one this is different - or is it different?
On a minor note, I was a little disappointed when no one actually used the phrase "Hurt Locker" in the movie. Or maybe I missed it. Anyway, I was hoping to get some insight into what that meant exactly according to the troops there.
Truly, there are some incredible moments in this film but at the end you walk away saying "eh." There's just not much that moves you or stays with you.
