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THE RIGHT COMBINATION
THE HURT LOCKER (R) Right now and despite
its title, The Hurt Locker stands alone atop
Metacritic's "Current High Scores" at 94. No
other film is within five points. Using what I
assume is a rather complex mathematical sys
tem, the best film out right now, hands down,
is a military thriller set during the height of
the Iraq War. While I have to imagine, once
the best film of the year race gets crowded
with award-caliber winter entries, The Hurt
Locker will cede its illustrious position, I can
not think of a better film I've seen thus far
this year. I feel strange bestowing that title
on Star Trek or The Hangove( or even Up, and
the highly anticipated Funny People left me
wishy-washy.
So, why not The Hurt Locker? It has an
award-worthy lead performance. Its director
is a critically beloved female action-movie
creator. Nothing else has stood out from the
crowd in 2009. All right, I'm convinced. The
Hurt Locker is the best film of 2009, so far...
With less than 40 days left in their rota
tion, Bravo Company's Explosive Ordnance
Disposal (EOD) unit is issued a new team
leader, Sergeant First Class William James
(Jeremy Renner). James joins Sergeant J.T.
built around the action figure version of the
bright, quick and sharp witted James. Instead,
Renner, first-time feature writer Mark Boal
(a journalist imbedded with a bomb squad),
and director Kathryn Bigelow dig deep into
what makes James the only ticking time bomb
he can't disarm. Mackie {Notorious Tupac) is
equally as good as Renner; Sanborn isn't as
good as James. Still, Mackie does a lot with
the little he is given in the U.N. building
evacuation and the tense sniper standoff.
Familiar faces, bigger names and higher
ranks drop by occasionally. Guy Pearce, David
Morse, and a particularly badass Ralph Fiennes
all make the briefest of what can only be
termed cameos, and I don't blame them. I'd
jump at the chance to appear in a Kathryn
Bigelow film, a rare opportunity considering
she's only made eight feature films (including
Near Dark, Point Break and Strange Days) since
1982.
Bigelow crafts the highest intensity, hot
test war drama made about Iraq. She and
Barry Ackroyd, the cinematographer from
United 93 and Ken Loach's Palme d'Or-winning
The Wind That Shakes the Barley, capture the
explosive microcosm of bomb removal, espe-
Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist
Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). The arrival of
Sgt. James upsets the close-knit team, which
is still recovering from the loss of their previ
ous leader.
Largely plotless, The Hurt Locker follows the
EOD team through the rubble-strewn streets of
Baghdad, where every rubbish pile may hide
an improvised explosive device, better known
as an IED. We travel from highly charged bomb
defusing to highly charged bomb defusing,
witnessing adrenaline-junkie James risk the
lives of his comrades on a daily basis. And the
days roll by until Bravo Company can go home.
Anyone waiting for an overarching mystery
to solve or an explosive mastermind to catch
will be disappointed. The Hurt Locker is about
two soldiers trying to survive the war and the
one fellow soldier who may be more dangerous
to them than the enemy. With the weight of
the film resting on their well-shaped shoul
ders, Renner, Mackie and Geraghty deliver.
Renner is the frontrunner for the Academy's
dark-horse-nominee for Best Actor. A familiar
face either from television guest appearances
or supporting roles, the sly actor had not
revealed the depth of his chops. In the hands
of a bigger-name, less talented actor, James
could be a plastic G.I. Joe. Renner plays him
on the edge of everything: sanity, the cliff,
the river> et cetera. A franchise could be
dally when the team fails. The slow-motion,
ground-up recreation of the opening explo
sion is sickening and gorgeous. The force of
the desert ambush hits like each silent bullet
from the seemingly empty horizon. Still, all
of Bigelow's films lose a bit of their steam
before they climax. Add The Hurt Locker to
the list of Bigelow films of which I'm quite
fond but don't love, yet I'm not quite sure
why. Everything looks right but never feels it.
Maybe I don't have the stamina to handle the
constant stress of her vampire neo-Western
(John Carpenter'sVampires can suck it), her
futuristic sci-fi noir or her surfing, bank-rob
bing masterpiece, unfairly derided for starring
Keanu Reeves and post-Ghost Patrick Swayze.
The Hurt Locker has already started collect
ing awards from the Nantucket Film Festival,
the Seattle International Film Festival and the
Venice Film Festival. Could the Oscars—or at
least the Golden Globes—be next? Bigelow's
film might be the first to benefit from the
newly expanded Best Picture category. The
Hurt Locker may not be the year's best film,
but I cannot imagine its not being in the top
10. If the film doesn't last long enough at
Beechwood, stick this review on the fridge so
you remember to see it if you get a second
chance courtesy of Cine.
i Drew Wheeler
14 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 2.2009