The Hurt Locker (Review)

The Iraq War has yielded a number of strong documentaries that tackle the topic both directly and indirectly. Successful fictional features, on the other hand, have been few and far between. Until now. Based on the first-hand reporting of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, 'The Hurt Locker' is an unrelenting, impressively self-contained pressure cooker that feels both deeply authentic and appropriately unsettling. Grade A.