The Hurt Locker
starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse
written by Mark Boal
directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Rating: ♦♦◊◊◊
I watched The Hurt Locker because it won the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards and I wanted to see what that was all about. But I don’t see what’s so great about it. It was a bit boring, really. An American bomb disposal unit in Baghdad has a lot of unnecessary close calls because of their risk-taking team leader. In real life, the team leader would be court marshaled for taking reckless risks, illegally keeping bomb parts as souvenirs under his bed, and habitually and deliberately ignoring proper procedures. And in most instances bomb disposal engineers would use robots to detonate suspected bombs and only use the cumbersome bomb-proof suit as a last resort. In real life, Jeremy Renner’s character would not make the cut as a team leader in such a unit.
What a grotty place Baghdad looks like. That much is probably spot-on.