My High School was swarming with recruiters after 9/11. Some jackass recruiter tried convincing me to for EOD. My response (youtube.com)

Intents scene.

Kathryn Bigelow is a hot property in Hollywood for good reason. She is a wamens (making it in a man's profession), was married to James Cameron (great way to network in the biz), and twice now has been a willing propagandist filmmaker for the powers that insist upon American involvement in regional affairs that don't serve any interest of the American people what so ever. She is a reasonably competent director, but what she brings to the screen is wholly devoid of any honest reflection on any thing of import. She just happens to have the necessary qualities to be the placeholder while the industry waits for another overrated "talent" that checks all the right boxes to promote.

The question I would ask is, does the scenery, props, and pacing of this film make up for the fact that no EOD guy anywhere would do what Renner's character is doing? The "bomb defusing trope" is so comically inane it really only belongs in admittedly shallow actioners like Speed or Die Hard 2, not in serious films that pretend to illustrate the actual horrors of war. But (((someone))) is enthusiastic at the prospect of promoting the "maverick shell shocked hero" trope to the minds of American audiences. I mean where else is the cannonfodder for Israeli geopolitical interests going to come from?

How this won Academy Awards for best picture, director and story is painfully obvious.