…
Wow.
I’m writing this having just got back from my favorite theatre (downtown Edmonton’s Garneau Theatre) where I sat down and watched The Hurt Locker. I feel tense, a little shifty and my heart is STILL pounding. The movie was a ride, and not in the Transformers-Michael-Bay-I-Love-Exploding-Things kind of way. This movie is an intense exploration of the exhausting and trying times of soldiers. A ride that will show you the line between death and life.
The soldiers in this movie are even more intense then any regular brigade, as they’re in charge of disarming and dismantling bombs set up by the enemy. The journey we go on with them, from beginning to end, is gripping. As a member of the audience you are thrust into the uncomfortable and overwhelming missions of three combat laden heroes. All three of our main characters grab you from inside the crowd of your local theatre and lets you know that hell is here on earth, and they have to deal with it everyday.
The movies star and anti-hero, Staff Sergeant William James as played by Jeremy Renner, seems well aware of this hell. He seems to almost revel in it. More then one person in the film calls him reckless. Other character’s in the film call him suicidal. Either way, his journey through this film is amazing and once again gripping. Helping the film stay with it’s intensity, Mr. Renner’s performance is amazing and seems rivaled only by Sam Rockwell’s performance in Moon earlier this year.
Though this is (I assume) a piece of fiction, it feels at every moment like a “based on a true story” film. I’m sure their are men and women dealing with this sort of mess right now, as you read this. This base in what feels like reality gives this film more of a grip on you. As it drives the point home over and over that anyone and everyone could die at any moment, you’ll ask yourself why anyone would want to put themselves through all this. The movie will show you why. As the opening quote of the movie states “war is a drug” and you will feel the effects of this drug riding through your veins long after the movie is over.
Quite simply put, The Hurt Locker is brilliant.
5 stars out of 5.
…
1 Comment
July 30, 2009 at 8:32 pm
[...] Links Review – The Hurt Locker [...]
Comments are closed.