The Hurt Locker * * * *

"The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug."

It seems pretty strange how many films about war (or mostly the Iraq war) have to do with such messages like "War is bad" or "Peace is answer" when really filmmakers never bother to think of the actual soldiers that chose to do this, and why the do it. Katheryn Bigelow's fantastic wartime character study tackles a situation about a soldier who somehow has no problem with battle and somehow loves the idea of it, while at the same time, being brilliant at it. That is why the opening quote resembles so much of what the film is saying. Of course, it is controversial yet as Jerremy Reiner's performance persuades us, it feels very true.

The film follows an EOD team through there last month and a half in Iraq before ending their trip. I wont give away much more then that, but i will say that a lot of the plot is somewhat real and relevant to todays soldiers. The film is beautifully shot and edited along with some outstanding direction from Bigelow. We feel like we are right in the action with them and every moment feels so tense and dramatic, we could really believe it.

Actual soldiers from the US army enjoyed its authenticity yet believed that a sense of fiction was added to much of the reality. I can't really say if i agree with them or not because this film gives the same im pact as PLATOON did with that same response. I actually believe that "The Hurt Locker" is this generations PLATOON, only for the Iraq war. This is the best Iraq war movie i've ever seen and will see in a while. One of the best of the decade.