Iraque. Forçado a participar de um perigoso jogo de gato e rato no caos da guerra, um esquadrão de elite do exército se reúne em uma cidade na qual cada pessoa é um potencial inimigo e cada objeto pode ser uma bomba mortal.

uring the early months of the post-invasion period in Iraq, Sergeant First Class William James becomes the new team leader of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit with the U.S. Army's Bravo Company, replacing Staff Sergeant Thompson, who was killed by a remote-detonated improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. He joins Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, whose jobs are to communicate with their team leader via radio inside his bombsuit, and provide him with rifle cover while he examines an IED. James's insistence on approaching a suspected IED without first sending in a bomb disposal robot during their first mission together lead Sanborn and Eldridge to consider him "reckless". Back at Camp Victory, James befriends Beckham, a young Iraqi boy who works for a local merchant operating at the base. The team is next called out to the United Nations building in Baghdad, where a parked car has a large bomb in the trunk. While James intensively studies the intricate bomb, Sanborn and Eldridge provide him with cover. Sanborn becomes increasingly concerned about three men watching them from a minaret and another filming them from a nearby rooftop. With the building evacuated, he suggests to James that the they pull out and let a team of engineers come disarm the bomb. James ignores and angers Sanborn by removing his radio headset, and remains with the car until he disarms the device.

Jeremy Renner ... SSgt. William James
Anthony Mackie ... Sgt. JT Sanborn
Brian Geraghty ... Spc. Owen Eldridge
Guy Pearce ... Sgt. Matt Thompson
Ralph Fiennes ... Contractor Team Leader
David Morse ... Colonel Reed
Evangeline Lilly ... Connie James
Christian Camargo ... Col. John Cambridge
Suhail Aldabbach ... Black Suit Man (as Suhail Al-Dabbach)
Christopher Sayegh ... Beckham
Nabil Koni ... Professor Nabil
Sam Spruell ... Contractor Charlie
Sam Redford ... Contractor Jimmy
Feisal Sadoun ... Contractor Feisal
Barrie Rice ... Contractor Chris