Movie Review: THE HURT LOCKER

There are three statements at the top of this movie poster, and I would like to address them one at a time, starting with the last one.

1."FEROCIOUSLY SUSPENSEFUL."
That's an understatement, folks. This movie is about bomb disposal technicians in Iraq, and the set pieces in the film are white-knuckle masterpieces. There is relatively little cinema trickery in the scenes where they are examining an IED or working the streets with rifles at the ready, they just put you in the heat and dust with the soldiers and let you feel the exhilarating terror of life or death decisions. These scenes are largely silent (dialogue-free, anyway) and absolutely riveting.

2."A FULL-TILT ACTION PICTURE."
This was clearly written by someone who only watched the preview, because this is not--nor is it intended to be--an action movie. The combat scenes are counterbalanced with scenes from the soldier's personal lives, and this, sadly, is where the movie falls to pieces. The narrative element is so melodramatic, overwrought, and overwritten that I wanted to punch myself in the face. Every time the story shifted away from the field, the movie bogged down like a scorpion under a wet towel (as the credits rolled I wondered aloud if the movie had been three or three-and-a-half hours; it was two). To be honest, I couldn't even tell you the narrative is about because it was so agonizingly painful to watch that my brain switched off in a desperate act of self-preservation.

3."A NEAR-PERFECT MOVIE."
Not even close, guys, for all of the reasons I mentioned above (and more, but why kick a dead horse). If it had been an hour and twenty-six minutes long and had only the loosest narrative thread to connect the men to one another (think THE THIN RED LINE), I would have agreed with this one. But as it stands? No way.

I will say, that for all its flaws, there are scenes in this movie that are absolutely astonishing, and worthy of acclaim: every single moment in the field; a scene between a soldier and a young Iraqi boy lingers in my memory; and for the rest of my life I will look at Capri Sun juice bags with a certain reverence. In the end, that is what makes this movie such a compelling frustration--it sticks with you, and you really want to see it again, but only if you have the ability to fast-forward.