Academy Award for Best Picture in 2009, this movie obviously benefitted from post Bush Administration war weariness. And War is Hell, even in the 21st Century. The movie did a good job of showing the reality of war being fought inside a country where civilian life is going on right alongside. Now perhaps all wars have been like that, but the cell phone and the video camera and the DVD play a role in this new war.
The movie centers around a 3 man Explosive Ordnance Demolition team. To defuse the bombs, the IEDs, one member of the team puts on a bulky bomb suit and walks toward the bomb which has the ability to explode over a very large blast zone.
The suit does not make the wearer invincible. In the early part, the suit wearer Thompson is killed by a blast, and the two remaining members, Swanson and Eldridge, meet the replacement James, played by Jeremy Renner. I had not seen many movies with him until this year, but he has emerged as a new tough guy.
James is bold to the point of recklessness to his new teammates, who are both impressed and scared of this trait. The movie follows three major battles as the days to the end of the tour of duty count down. Each soldier expressed his good and bad sides during these missions. The theme of friendly fire and fragging is a strong one, as is the PTSD and detachment from regular society.
The setting plays a character as well as the Iraqi Desert and its towns and people are like a constant presence, sometimes threatening and sometimes now. But hard to tell when. A good reflection on the all -volunteer army of the USA today and its light/dark sides.
* * * 1/2 of 4 stars
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