Danger can be narcotic. War is the ultimate danger zone. And being on a bomb squad in a war is the most insane rush of all, if it doesn’t kill you.

There is much to like about Kathryn Bigelow’s portrayal of this situation. She manages to keep the viewer on edge throughout the film. A bomb could go off at any moment, and quite often it does. You never know who is a “friendly” and who is a suicidal explosion waiting to go off. Yet the worst wounds inflicted are psychological and emotional, not physical.

This is not the kind of film I would normally seek out, but the power of the Academy Awards is compelling. Worth watching, even if you have to do so with one eye shut a lot of the time.

I watched the Hurt Locker thinking it was going to be some amazing film. OK, I liked the characters, and it was well done, but it didn’t scream best film to me by any means. Maybe I am just getting old as well, but I kept getting the characters confused, and the end left me with a sort of – that was it?- feeling.

It’s worth watching to see it, but of the movies I have seen that were nominated for best picture, I guess I thought I thought District 9, Precious, and Crazy Heart were more deserving.

I think I was supposed to like this movie more than I did, and maybe that’s why I didn’t really like it that much. I’ve always had a problem with authority.

see misercord’s review. spot on.

This is a great movie.

I like how the big stars in the caste aren’t the main characters. I mean Guy Pearce dies in the first 5 minutes of the movie! David Morse shows up and is gone before you even realize his isn’t a big character. Then Evangeline Lily has that one line and less than a full scene. I think this technique help keep the audience off balance and adds to the tension.

The main character SFC William James (Jeremy Renner) is a great character. He goes from being the hero to the villian to being mournned.

This movie demonstrates the peril of being a hero. We want hero’s but they are impossible to live with.