The Hurt Locker (2009)

Rating: 95%
Okay so here's the second movie that I was borrowing from my youngest brother along with Gladiator. So without further intro, let's get into The Hurt Locker.

Plot: Sergeant First Class William James becomes the leader of a  Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit during post-invasion Iraq after the units former leader was killed by a bomb. Throughout the film, the other members of the unit, Sanborn and Eldridge become concerned about James because his methods in how he does his job as they try to find and disable or destroy bombs, and encounter other missions and danger in Iraq.

This was a very well done war movie. And I actually have a friend who was in the military who has told that this movie really hits it pretty accurately with the war in Iraq. It really displays the suspenseful things that soldiers out there face out there with the hard relationships between the troops and the Iraqis, how hard some of the choices they make can haunt them, and altogether trying to survive long enough to go home. The actors really do an extremely good job at giving us these characters and what each one of them goes through throughout the movie.

Actors/Characters
Jeremy Renner/Sergent James: James was a very interesting character. He did have an interesting sort of 'I prefer my own way' kind of methods with disabling or destroying bombs, and I especially liked his line "If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable." But he did have his more serious side where he was determined to get the job done and he did really care for his unit and some times was dramatized about some pretty harsh stuff that was happening and Renner displayed all of that really well which makes it little surprise that he was nominated for Best Actor at the oscars and has make a breakthrough in his career since this movie.

Editing: I particularly liked the editing from the first scene of this film. Mostly because during one editing class I took at film school a couple of years ago, the teacher showed that particular scene and roughly took it apart and showing how every since choice of shot and time of cutting from one shot to another worked really well and I liked how much sense that makes even watching it not sometimes.

And that's my review for The Hurt Locker. It's an excellent Iraq war film that displayed a lot of things that happened around that time with very well made and acted characters that makes it probably the best Iarq war movie ever made.