The Hurt Locker

Look. There are good enough reasons not to use my rating system, but the intense realism of this film is stunning, literally. I feel like it's boasting, in some roundabout way, to say it, but this is why I didn't review the Dark Knight. I might, in a similar mood, argue that it's much too good for me to do it justice. That said, I am a hypocrite. It's hard to place the Dark Knight and the Hurt Locker on a solid, straightforward rating system, and I don't think I will. I will say, however, that they are close enough that I don't want to even try to say it. That and the literal stunningness of the realism of this movie.

It has been said before that this film is the best portrayal of the Iraq war to date. I myself have seen no other, so, to say so myself would be flyspit short of meaningless.

If one is looking for an adrenalin rush, I suggest you look elsewhere. This movie will create such a feeling, occasionally, but there is an infinity times more value in it than that. Taking it as an action flick would be a cruel injustice to it, and wouldn't satisfy that desire. If you want action, I suggest you look into the Bourne or Batman series.

The Hurt Locker is about an Army bomb squad, if that's the correct terminology. Beyond that, I think, you need only know that this movie has more foul language than I've ever heard before in a movie. As with the previous, this isn't saying much, as I haven't watched a lot of movies, or even TV shows, with even close to as much language. Still, the amount of language is, like the movie, numbing.

The movie also revealed, at least to me, the extraordinary power of bombs. It's hard to put to words, in fact, so I'll cease trying.

The Hurt Locker might be among the movies I think everyone should see, along with, so far, Life Is Beautiful. To rate this movie on a scale of one to ten would be hard, but I can say that anything under nine would be unjust, and anything under eight would be a crime. This is a film I wish I'd waited to see until my family could with me. I hope I'll manage to enjoy it as much, or more, watching it again with them.

Once again, the amount of language in this film is enough to numb a person, but I watched it anyway. I hope that doesn't reflect too badly on my reputation.


!Noah!