CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 7/03/09

Hurt So Good

By Jenelle riley

The Hurt Locker

Mark Boal

It would be easy to dismiss The Hurt Locker as another Iraq War movie and banish it to obscurity along with such well-intended films as Rendition, Grace Is Gone, and The Lucky Ones. But it's important to remember this film comes from director Kathryn Bigelow, an artist who has brought her unique style to action films like Near Dark and Point Break, and is scripted by Mark Boal, who penned the story that inspired the one outstanding Iraq-themed movie to come out in recent years: In the Valley of Elah. Just as Elah was really a murder mystery and character study of a complicated man, The Hurt Locker is much more than a war film. At its core are three fascinating soldiers, played by a trio of excellent young actors. Jeremy Renner stars as a reckless but brilliant bomb-disposal expert, who clashes with his fellow members; a by-the-book officer played by Anthony Mackie, and his more sensitive subordinate, portrayed by Brian Geraghty. The film looks at both the physical and psychological toll of men who face death every day. A journalist who spent time embedded with American soldiers in Iraq, Boal certainly knows his facts. He also has a deep understanding of these characters—how they speak, how they relate to one another, and how they could be driven to take such outrageous risks. There isn't a single bit of fat on the lean script—the plotting, which is essentially a series of nail-biting scenarios, is airtight. Neither Bigelow, Boal, nor the stellar cast makes a single false move.

The Hurt Locker
Summit Entertainment
Rated R; 130 min.

The Hurt Locker courtesy Summit Entertainment

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