Delayed Reaction: The Hurt Locker

Premise: Follow a month or so in the lives of an Iraq War Explosive Ordinance Disposal team.

 

I need to own up to being wrong. When I first saw The Hurt Locker in 2010 or so, my reaction was pretty tepid. I remember thinking the movie was fine. I really wasn't impressed. I think I was even rooting for Avatar to win Best Picture that year. So, that's where I was in my life.

For a few years though, I've wondered if I didn't give it a fair shake the first time. There was a lot of noise at the time, from it being the lowest grossing Best Picture Winner to the first (and somehow only) film directed by a woman to win Best Picture. I sort of lost track of the question of if the movie is actually good. Now I've rewatched it finally. I still don't think it should've won Best Picture that year. My vote goes to Up or maybe Up In the Air. The Hurt Locker is a damn good movie though. That said, it's good because some parts are great and some parts are only OK, not because it's top to bottom good.

 

The tension is masterful. Every time Jeremy Renner puts that suit on, I'm white-knuckling my way through the scene. I mean, there's a reason why calling something a "ticking time bomb" is the choice metaphor for any super tense situation. Kathryn Bigelow earned that Oscar in those scenes. That scene when Renner picks up the bomb to see a half dozen other bombs connected to it fills me with dread as much as any horror movie scene has. This is also still the best I've seen Jeremy Renner used. Filmmakers have been trying to bottle that combination of recklessness and authority the same way ever since. The effect has been somewhat lost since Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie are the biggest names in the cast since this came out, but I love how the big-name guys at the time of this release like Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes show up only to be killed off right away. Few movies have stripped off "plot armor" so effectively.

 

There is something shallow about this movie I had trouble with. The story and scenes were always more interesting than the characters. The characters were all built on tropes. Like, Renner is the renegade. He doesn't play with toys. He diffuses bombs himself. He doesn't follow protocol, because he knows better. He listens to metal music, because it's the only thing that drowns out his demons. Brian Geraghty's character is built on the idea "we need a PTSD character" and not much else. Anthony Mackie's character should then be the most engaging, but he literally points out his meaninglessness as a character toward the end. It reminds me of the complaints about Christopher Nolan's lack of characterization in his movies. Perhaps if Bigelow got $150 million more to dress everything else up then it wouldn't bother me as much either here. Mostly though, the great moments far outweigh the ok ones.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend