Lots of people in Hollywood have been trying to figure out why Iraq war films have performed so poorly at the box office. In the Valley of Ellah, Stop Loss and Home of the Brave, to name a few. Studios have attached big stars like Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. Some have suggested maybe it’s just too soon with the war still going on, maybe bad marketing. But the answer is: Those films were just boring.

So how do you fix this? How do you make an engrossing, intense and compelling film on the Iraq war? Naturally, you turn to the director of Point Break. Director Kathryn Bigelow who really came into her own bringing us the magic of Keanu and Swayze has created a truly unique masterpiece on the intense psychological and physical damage soldiers go through in war.

The Hurt Locker takes us in the heat of war in Iraq following an elite team of three Army soldiers who specialize in bomb disposal. When a new team leader (Jeremy Renner) joins the squad, his renegade style causes friction in the team. Leading the others soldiers (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) to wonder if he cares more about getting an adrenaline rush or getting them all back alive.

First off let me say when I saw The Hurt Locker, I was on 2 hours of sleep, so I expected to be snoozing at some point in the movie. Not only did I not fall asleep, but I was so jacked up I couldn’t sleep when I got home after the movie. The movie is very well paced as you are taken from one intense attempt at disposing of deadly IEDs after another. Kathryn Bigelow directs the action scenes with a quite intensity that I can’t recall having seen before in war film.

War classics like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Apocalypse Now slammed us with loud explosions and frightening battle scenes. But in The Hurt Locker, it’s silence that is really effective. There isn’t much of a musical score during the film and the use of handheld cameras gives the film a gritty realistic feel. The movie does have its share of classic explosions but perhaps the best part of the film is classic sniper battle in the desert.

Jeremy Renner, who you may recognize as Colin Farrell’s partner in S.W.A.T. is very effective as team’s leader. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty are quite good as well and we even get a recognizable actor or two making cameos. But Renner really steals the film. This could be the movie that makes this guy into a huge star.

Bottom line: Kathryn Bigelow has finally achieved what so many others have failed at recently in bringing us a classic entertaining and very respectful film of the danger, confusion and horror all our soldiers face to keep us free.

9/10