A lot of movies begin with poetic quotations, but The Hurt Locker opens with a statement presented as fact: War is a drug. Not for everyone, of course. Most combat troops want to get it over with and go home. But the hero of this film, Staff Sgt. William James, who has a terrifyingly dangerous job, addresses it like a daily pleasure. Under enemy fire in Iraq, he defuses bombs.

He isnt an action hero, hes a specialist, like a surgeon who focuses on one part of the body over and over, day after day, until he could continue if the lights went out. James is a man who understands bombs inside and out, and has an almost psychic understanding of the minds of the bombers. This is all the more remarkable because in certain scenes it seems fairly certain that the bomb maker is standing in full view on a balcony or in a window overlooking the street, say, and is as curious about his bomb as James is. Two professionals, working against each other.

Staff Sgt. James is played by Jeremy Renner, who immediately goes on the short list for an Oscar nomination. His performance is not built on complex speeches but on a visceral projection of who this man is and what he feels. He is not a hero in a conventional sense. He cares not for medals. He could no doubt recite patriotic reasons for his service, but does that explain why he compulsively, sometimes recklessly, puts himself in harms way? The man before him in this job got himself killed. James seems even cockier.

The Hurt Locker is a spellbinding war film by Kathryn Bigelow, a master of stories about men and women who choose to be in physical danger. She cares first about the people, then about the danger. She doesnt leave a lot of room for much else. The man who wrote war is a drug was Chris Hedges, a war correspondent for The New York Times. Mark Boal, who wrote this screenplay, was embedded with a bomb squad in Baghdad. He also wrote the superb In the Valley of Elah (2007), with Tommy Lee Jones as a professional Army man trying to solve the murder of his son who had just returned from Iraq. Also based on fact.

Bigelow and Boal know what theyre doing. This movie embeds itself in a mans mind. When its over, nothing has been said in so many words, but we have a pretty clear idea of why James NEEDS to defuse bombs. Im going to risk putting it this way: (1) bombs need to be defused; (2) nobody does it better than James; (3) he knows exactly how good he is; and (4) when hes at work, an intensity of focus and exhilaration consumes him, and hes in that heedless zone when an artist loses track of self and time.

The most important man in his life is Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), head of the support team that accompanies James. Sanborn and his men provide cover fire, scan rooftops and hiding places that might conceal snipers, and assist James into and out of his heavy protective clothing.

Sanborn is a skilled, responsible professional. He works by the book. He follows protocol. James drives him nuts. Sometimes James seems to almost deliberately invite trouble, and Sanborn believes that by following the procedure theyll all have a better chance of going home.

The Hurt Locker is a great film, an intelligent film, a film shot clearly so that we know exactly who everybody is and where they are and what theyre doing and why. The camera work is at the service of the story. Bigelow knows that you cant build suspense with shots lasting one or two seconds. Plus you cant tell a story that way, either not one that deals with the mystery of why a man like James seems to depend on risking his life. A leading contender for Academy Awards.