There are people scattering around everywhere. Soldiers in uniform leading middle-eastern civilians. The contemporary audience knows right away the setting is in Iraq. Each shot is no longer than three to four seconds long. There are multiple POV shots including one of a robotic equipment strapped with a camera. Suspense is employed as the audience is indirectly told there is danger looming around the corner yet they have no clue what it is. The threat is finally revealed in the form of a bomb as there are some characters introduced; a three man bomb squad team who share a bond equivalent to one of which is shared by brothers. The team consists of the leader Matt, Sergeant Sanborn, and specialist Eldridge. Although, all three of them show signs of fear, they are comfortable working on the same time as they joke around to comfort each other. The problem sets in when a piece of equipment breaks and Matt has to go in his suit to correct the situation. That’s when cutaways are employed to create a suspense as Matt walks towards the bomb, also there is no background music to soothe one’s mind as every breath Matt takes can be heard. Specialist Eldridge spots a man with a phone and is ordered to shoot him down but for some reason, which is not clarified, he is reluctant which results in the man using his phone that sets the bomb off. In between all this, Matt spots his teammates running and takes off running as well as his instincts tell him something is wrong, but unfortunately he could not get far enough as he takes the explosion on his back and does not survive the impact.
I loved the introduction scene, but I believe what made me really like that scene was the scene I am about to describe in this paragraph. The scene when there is a middle-eastern man strapped with enough C-4 to blow the whole block to dust. New team leader William James approaches the scene with his team, yet he’s already in his bomb suit. This scene has a lot of parallels and differences at the same time when compared to the intro scene. Both William and Matt walk to danger knowing the risks, yet Matt’s courage is extricated from his team while William does not need courage, but derives his purpose to life through situations like this. Both scenes employ eye line matching shots to let the audience get a taste of what Matt and William feel like in a bomb suite. Matt feels hot, tense, and claustrophobic while William is uncomfortable but he seems to rule everything out and just focus on what he enjoys, which is the task at hand of depowering a bomb. The main contradiction I enjoy in between these two scenes is the fact how Matt does his best to run from an explosion yet does not survive but William, who turns around to face a similar explosion survives, without any serious injuries. It displays how strong William’s addiction to war is as even in the face of death he derives a thrill from the situation and lives another day to enjoy it.
