Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce
Hollywood has finally produced a great film about the war in Iraq.
Chronicling the tour of duty of a bomb disposal unit, The Hurt Locker is a nerve-shreddingly tense drama that will make you set up camp on the edge of your seat.
The film drops you right into the action as explosives expert Sergeant Matt Thompson (Pearce) and his squad, Sanborn (Mackie) and Eldrige (Geraghty), have to defuse a roadside device.
One big blast later the unit have a new team leader in Sergeant William James (Renner), a man who seems about as stable as a vat of nitroglycerin.
With only a few days left to go until the end of their tour, Sanborn and Eldrige have to pray James doesn’t get them killed.
Director Kathryn Bigelow does a brilliant job putting you in the boots of the characters, employing hand-held cameras to ensure The Hurt Locker is a hugely visceral experience.
She is backed up by a cast that effectively conveys the mental fatigue a soldier suffers with Renner, in particular, a magnetic presence.
Engrossing from beginning to end, this film sets the new benchmark for movies about the conflict in Iraq.
Good for: Those with a strong ticker.
PIERRE DE VILLIERS
