The Hurt Locker (15), 125 minutes, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, thriller/action ****

The Hurt Locker is the best war movie in years and in every way an adult work by comparison with Quentin Tarantino’s slim but amusing folly, Inglourious Basterds.

What’s more, while Tarantino is rewriting the past, Kathryn Bigelow’s tough, psychological drama is set in an Iraq where the story is on-going, and it has the stamp of authenticity thanks to the script by journalist Mark Boal.

He hunkered down with a special bomb unit and this is his report from observing the bravest of men: the bomb disposal team on the tense streets of Baghdad.

Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes may be the star names, but both are blasted off screen in no time at all; just one indication of the no-nonsense story-telling of Bigelow.

The Hurt Locker is not a God Bless America tale of heroics, but a claustrophobic study of the relationships of men working under incredible stress in sweltering heat and dazzling light, a tinderbox situation where frayed nerves and personality clashes are inevitable but cool heads are vital. You feel you are there with this small band of brothers each step of the way as the weary soldiers of Bravo Company count down the 38 days remaining on their tour of duty.

Jeremy Renner’s swaggering performance as the renegade, gung-ho Sergeant William James is destined for the award season, and Bigelow will surely be there too, because The Hurt Locker is a mighty amalgam of suspense, intelligence, courage, recklessness and American psychology.

• DVD extras: behind-the-scenes feature; cast and crew interviews. Blu-ray: behind-the-scenes feature; cast and crew interviews; photo gallery; backstage option.

Charles Hutchinson