The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker | LIVE-WIRE ACT Jeremy Renner shines as a soldier on the edge in The Hurt Locker
Photo: Jonathan Olley

If you don’t already know the name Jeremy Renner, write it down. Better yet, just rent The Hurt Locker. Renner looks like Daniel Craig, but the pulse-thumping heroics his bomb-disposal specialist is up to in Kathryn Bigelow’s tense-as-hell Iraq-war film make 007’s exploits look tame. He’s a high-tech warrior in a low-tech war, which means his job is to walk up to a roadside IED, pull out a pair of wire cutters, and hope he doesn’t get blown to kingdom come. He’s also a thrill junkie who gets off ? on his death-wish mission — you get the sense that he’d be lost without war. Renner adds layers of complexity to a character that could’ve easily been a cartoon of courage. See why the film has already won a ton of critics’ awards. The EXTRAS feature a terrific commentary from Bigelow and writer Mark Boal, who embedded in Iraq as a journalist. A

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