'The Hurt Locker' is powerful, but it's not for everybody

 While it may have gotten shut out at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, The Hurt Locker is accumulating much recognition and even Oscar buzz for “Best Picture.”

With a little more than a month left in their deployment in Iraq, Bravo Company’s bomb disposal unit gets a foolhardy new sergeant, William James (Jeremy Renner, 28 Weeks Later). His thrill-seeking personality could potentially put his whole team at risk in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.

Things we liked about the movie:

1. Since the story is entirely driven by character, each actor needs to be at the top of his game. And they don’t disappoint. Renner is superb as Sgt. James, succeeding in making a reckless adrenaline junkie sympathetic. Brian Geraghty (Jarhead) is all raw nerves as Spc. Eldridge. But it’s Anthony Mackie (We Are Marshall) who gets the truest character arc as his Sgt. Sanborn erodes from blustering confidence to doubt and self-loathing under the pressure in the desert.

2. Director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break), filming in grainy 16mm, builds the intensity of each scene by simply letting the moments exist. There are no gimmicks, no tricks, no moments of crowd-pleasing cathartic action. She has the confidence – not to mention the great script by journalist Mark Boal – to allow events to unfold as they might in real life. She’s also smart enough to let the characters exist free of preaching and empty politics, avoiding the easy route of condemnation taken by almost any other film on this war.

3. Filmed on location in Jordan and Kuwait, The Hurt Locker looks and feels authentic. Piles of rubble and garbage, burned-out cars, Arabic graffiti and empty streets all add to the wartime atmosphere. This is clearly not some Hollywood back lot.

Things we disliked about the movie:

1. As a character study, there is no real dramatic arc. Each sequence is simply another episode (and admittedly, the repetitiveness is part of the point) and some scenes could be rearranged in order with no one really noticing. The only real indication of how much time is left in the movie is the periodic subtitles counting down the days left in the troops’ deployment.

2. The Hurt Locker is poised as major awards contender, having already won more than three dozen awards from film festivals and critics’ groups. This puts it firmly in the category of an Important Film, the kind that people feel that they should see regardless of whether they really want to. The Hurt Locker is a powerful, well-constructed film, but it is not for everybody.

All in all, The Hurt Locker is immersive, gripping and intense. Almost unpleasantly so. If you have the cinematic palate to appreciate the movie, it might be worth renting before Oscar night just to see what the fuss is about. As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into.