“The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”  The words of embedded war correspondent, Chris Hedges, linger on the screen in the opening frames of Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” hinting that what is to follow is anything but your typical war film.

The opening sequence, which takes place in 2004 Baghdad, sets the cold-as-steel tone with a wickedly intense bomb-defusing scene that not only sees a dramatic and unexpected departure from convention, but also familiarizes the audience with the proper delicate and methodical manner in which these types of situations must be handled.  Similarly calculated and gripping scenes populate the rest of the film.

As soon as Bigelow (“Point Break,” “Strange Days,” “K-19: The Widowmaker”) mercilessly establishes that safety is a luxury not afforded to even the most cautious, she introduces the film’s hero, Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), a brash, young new arrival to his Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit (bomb squad) in Iraq.  He and his comrades carefully and routinely dismantle devices intended to kill them.  Already battle hardened with stints in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Iraq, James has become so familiar with the procedures and protocols in place to prevent his death (earnestly illustrated at the beginning of the film) that he feels comfortable ignoring them.

Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), his next in command, plays by the book and prefers the common-sense approach, often rightly becoming  infuriated when James’ employs his rogue methods.  But William James is a different breed.  He is a highly functional and talented zombie.  An unsung casualty of the horrors of war.  And what’s more, he has become addicted to the very horrors responsible for the decay of his soul.

Renner, known best as the star of the short-lived TV show, “The Unusuals,” delivers a fully characterized, powerhouse performance that seems likely to catapult him onto the A-list.  Mackie (“We Are Marshall”) is a steady and reliable foil to Renner’s unpredicatable maverick.

Despite it’s successes, “Locker” falls just short of masterpiece territory.  Barely.  A cliched, fully-clothed, “rape shower” scene, a semi-forced mourning of a dead Iraqi boy, and an out of place AWOL sequence are only minor flaws in an otherwise sophisticated and compelling tale.

“The Hurt Locker” is not only a taught, evenly paced, well-acted, spellbinding thriller, but is the first Iraq War film to deliver a penetrating, gripping study of heroism without falling into the trappings of either nationalism or cynicism and condescension.  This gem is Bigelow’s best effort to date, and the best war film since Terry Malick’s gorgeous and contemplative 1998 masterpiece, “The Thin Red Line.”

Score: (5/5)