The Hurt Locker

Ted Puffer Review = 4 Stars

The only real reason I wanted to see this movie was because it was being billed as the greatest movie about the Iraq war created so far, and considering the duds which have hit the screen since the war started that's actually saying something. I knew it didn't have to be great, but it did have to be a generally good movie. And a good movie about Iraq is needed. Movies tend to let us crystallize our thinking about a topic, and the Iraq war is a heck of a topic in need of some clarification.
Also what attracted me was the idea that this was a fictional story. So while it may do nothing to actually explaining the war, it might be able to show real emotion and a broad theme surrounding the whole mess.
And it does.
The movie is surprising in that it doesn't have any tense moments. This is a movie that follows a bomb squad through their tour of duty, so you'd expect lots of ticking time-bombs and action against the clock. The movie has none of that.
What is does have is some great characters and some bewildered people not really sure why they're in a warzone, but happy to be there. Not happy in the normal sense of the word, but happy they are in a place they feel they should be in .

Not an easy subject, and an even more difficult emotion to convey in film. But brilliantly done, and making for a great movie.