When I go to see a movie I hope that when the final scene ends I will be left in my chair for a minute saying “Wow.” Now that “Wow” could be for many different reasons. It could be followed by a period, an exclamation point, a question mark, it could even be in bold or italicized script. However, the final scene of Hurt Locker left me exactly where I was fifteen minutes in to the movie (as well as forty five minutes in, an hour and fifteen minutes in, and an hour and forty five minutes in) I was not left saying “Wow” but saying nothing. The movie ended and I thought to myself “Okay, I guess I’ll just leave.” So that’s what I did. And if not for Tyler and Kory Rotter, I never would have really thought about the movie again. What I am trying to say is although Hurt Locker didn’t do anything wrong (it actually did a lot of things really well), it didn’t leave me with anything, and because of that I cannot say it was great, it was just an enjoyable but forgettable two hours.

When the movie started I had high hopes that it would be more than just the typical war movie. The first scene supported this cause and left the audience in a state ready to be pulled somewhere that they hadn’t been before. But then we are left stuck in this episodic one-dimensional pattern of scenes that really didn’t move me in either direction. Now stuck may not be the right word to use because these scenes did seem natural, largely because of the excellent acting by all characters.

The three main characters fit the three stereotypical soldier personalities perfectly. There is Sanborn, the veteran soldier played by Anthony Mackie, who above anything else is loyal. He is a patriot, but finally realizes that although his death would be in his countries honor, it would be forgotten and there would be no one left to carry on his legacy. The scene in which we learn this about Sanborn is my favorite of the movie and only of the only opportunities where we are provided with some depth to the characters.  Next there is Eldridge, the young bundle of nerves played by Brian Geraghty. I felt for Eldridge. He was a soldier but didn’t necessarily want to be. He had other things in life that he wanted to accomplish and he was constantly worried that each day would be his last. I esspecially liked his relationship with the colonel, although I thought the colonel’s character was extremely forgettable.  Finally there was Will James, the main character of the movie played by Jeremy Renner. Renner’s performance truly dominated this movie. He portrayed the reckless adrenaline junky to perfection. What was amazing was that although his character was consistently facing death, you never felt bad for him because James was not afraid of death. You see his weakness at a few points in the film when the brutality of war seems to claim the life of Beckham, a young boy who James previously bought DVD’s from. You realize that James, tough guy on the outside, does have some compassion inspired by his child. However, he is addicted to war and sacrifices his family life for the control and dominance he can have as an American soldier. The character sounds extremely interesting on paper, but during the movie the complexity is replaced by monotony. Any hope or compassion for the character is lost because you know no matter what happens for during the movie, he is static and eventually he is going to die a soldier. I think it would have been much more interesting and suspenseful if they moved away from the stereotype a little farther and added another dimension to the character. It would have brought depth to the movie and removed the monotonous and episodic feel.

I don’t doubt that this movie is going to win a lot of awards next March, and a lot of them will be deserved. Technically it was excellent and the acting was perfect; in my opinion, it just didn’t have the X-Factor that really makes a movie memorable. I did not feel attached to any of the characters and I felt an airy emptiness after seeing the movie, almost like I didn’t really know where the last two hours went.

I think is the kind of movie that some people will love and some people will hate, but for me it was just a movie.

7/10

Kevin

1. Hypo Crite Says:
   July 10th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

   Nice usage of the word episodic…very apropos.