There aren’t many war movies without a lot of combat, and there aren’t a lot of war movies with a wicked sense of humour either. Well, The Hurt Locker defies both those generalities, and does so with a tremendous amount of panache and talent. That talent primarily belongs to Jeremy Renner, whose Staff Sergeant William James is perhaps the greatest subversive military character since one Benjamin Franklin Pierce step foot in the camp of M*A*S*H 4077. Grounded in something more than the politics of the day, Hurt Locker manages to excel past the bumps and contrivances that have itched previous depictions of the Iraq War in order to tell a tale more character driven. It’s war on the edge of madness.

The film follows the final 40 days in rotation for a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit in Bravo Company. When the unit’s previous commander, Sergeant Matt Thompson (Guy Pearce), is killed in the line of duty, James is rotated in to lead the team made up of Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). Immediately Sanborn and Eldridge notice a distinct change in style between Thompson and James, primarily the fact that James seems utterly full of contempt for both Army procedure and his own life. The title of the film refers to a box James keeps under his bed full of old bomb components from devices he’s disarmed.

Despite the somewhat brazen characterization of Sgt. James, there is a certain degree of authenticity on display in The Hurt Locker. The script was written by first time screenwriter Mark Boal, who also wrote the short story that Paul Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah was based on. Boal spent time embedded with an actual bomb squad unit in Iraq, and apparently based this script on the experiences. "It's the first movie about the Iraq war that purports to show the experience of the soldiers," Boal told the Guardian UK. The slate of Iraq War movies that have come out over the last few years have irrevocably some kind of colour commentary on the nature of the conflict, but Hurt Locker’s focus is on the day-to-day impact of the soldiers fighting it. Is Sgt. James really Section 8, or is he merely adapting to suit his circumstance?

The film is grounded by Renner’s go for broke performance picture James as both a lunatic and as someone trapped near the end of his rope with only one way to cope. The film’s very intently focused on character; James’ predominately, but there’s also Sanborn, who’s a stand-up soldier trying to keep James insanity from overflowing. Eldridge meanwhile finds James’ approach initially refreshing, but quickly finds himself questioning the renewed state of greater madness he finds himself in as the end of the rotation gets nearer. What’s really perplexing is that James is also a competent soldier, maybe one of the best, and Renner always has you wondering whether he’s lucky, crazy or completely unorthodox.

Technically the film is superb. Kathryn Bigelow, typically known for her cult efforts (Near Dark, Strange Days) and her strangely inept action films (Blue Steel and Point Break), finds a strong and pointed voice through which she can tell the story. The film only really falters in its last third, with at least one scene that feels cut and pasted from a typical action movie. While watching it, the sequence feels out of place as James gets caught up on a mission of personal revenge only to find a solo mission in a community he doesn’t know and doesn’t speak the language of a greater challenge than advertised. We get it, we get it, things are not what they seem, the enemy you know, and so on, and so on. It tarnishes what might otherwise be near perfection, but Bigelow keeps things pretty grounded in the daily, drill sergeant realities for the most part. And enough can’t be said about Renner, without him The Hurt Locker could have been just another war movie. Keep in mind though, that it’s anything but.