KATHRYN Bigelow doesn’t make many movies but when she does you ought to take notice.

She’s a woman operating in a man’s world when it comes to genre choices. But she can mix it with the best of them, and even surpass many of them too.

Near Dark was a near-perfect vampire movie, Point Break one of the definitive action movies of the past few years, and Strange Days an under-appreciated futuristic thriller. OK, so Harrison Ford collaboration K-19: The Widowmaker sunk without trace… but Bigelow generally rocks.

And her latest, Iraq bomb disposal drama The Hurt Locker is one of the must-see movies of the year.

Described as “a suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military’s most unrecognized heroes: the technicians of the bomb squad” it’s one of the most intense movies of the year.

The film follows three members of the Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad as they battle insurgents and each other as they seek out and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad – in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike.

Their mission is clear – protect and save – but it’s anything but easy, for the margin of error on a war-zone bomb is zero.

The film stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty and is based on the first-hand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. It also boasts appearances from the likes of Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Lost‘s Evangeline Lilly and Guy Pearce.

US reaction

Critics in America, where it was released on June 19, have been raving… with many hailing it to be as close to perfect as you can get for a movie.

Leading the fanfare with an ‘A’ rating, Entertainment Weekly declared that The Hurt Locker is “an intense, action-driven war pic, a muscular, efficient standout that simultaneously conveys the feeling of combat from within as well as what it looks like on the ground”.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Tensely action-packed and muscularly directed by Kathryn Bigelow, this tale of an elite US army bomb disposal unit in Baghdad is a familiar story in new clothes, targeted at the young male demographic.”

And Time Magazine opined: “The Hurt Locker is a near-perfect movie about men in war, men at work. Through sturdy imagery and violent action, it says that even Hell needs heroes.”

The Globe And Mail, meanwhile, stated: “Bigelow and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd crank up the tension to nail-biting, gut-churning extremes and the mayhem is powerfully visceral.”

And Aint It Cool rounds up this summary by concluding: “I’m not sure this is a film that will be easy to sell to the general public, but anyone who is willing to test themselves will find that it’s a dynamic and memorable experience.

The Hurt Locker is due for a UK release in August 2009.

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