The Hurt Locker |  | Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Actors: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Buy New: $14.99
as of 3/10/2010 11:45 MST details
In Stock
Seller: Amazon Video On Demand
Rating:  221 reviews
Sales Rank: 52
Genre: Action
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 131 Minutes
Theatrical Release Date: July 31, 2009
Release Date: January 12, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn and Eldridge by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever in a movie that the NY Daily News says "deserves to stand as one of the defining films of the decade." |
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 221
 Taut war drama exploring the psychology of soldiering June 27, 2009
DarthRad (CA United States)
167 out of 182 found this review helpful
The movie opens with the quote - "the rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug" (a modern paraphrase of Churchill's older and more famous maxim - "there is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result")
This is a thriller of a movie about a U.S. Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq and their daily grind in dealing with the IEDs and insurgents there.
This movie does have several stars - but Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pierce, and Evangeline Lilly all have fairly small roles. Blink, and you'll miss them. Their presence in this movie is more a testament to director/producer Kathryn Bigelow's status in the entertainment industry than anything else.
Jeremy Renner is Sergeant James, a bomb tech. Unlike his affable predecessor, he is a wild man. He seems not only indifferent to the dangers of his job, he absolutely revels in the dangers. It is the ultimate in thrill seeking behavior, getting that dopamine surge in his brain. Near the end of the movie, Sgt. James gets accused of being an adrenaline junkie, but we know now that the neurochemical at work here is dopamine. Bomb disposal is not just a job for him, but his passion, his addiction, his reason for being in the Army.
Renner's character ends up like a cross between Elmer Fudd, with his perpetually placid and slightly befuddled gaze, and Bugs Bunny, with his wile and lust for excitement and danger.
His two partners in the unit, Sgt. Sanborn and Specialist Eldridge, who have to cover him and just want to survive their tour of duty, don't know quite how to deal with his determination to confront danger. One wonders at why Sgt. James puts himself in danger, why he takes the extra risks to defuse a bomb when detonating it would do. The scene that explains it all is when Sgt. James returns home to America one day and we see him doing the mundane chores of life as a civilian, cleaning out the rain gutters, cleaning up the kitchen, shopping with his wife and baby at the grocery store. As he stares at an entire wall full of colorful cereal boxes stacked along a grocery store aisle, a look of utter blankness, boredom, and despair fills his face.....nope, not for him, this dull life as a civilian....
The movie's storyline is a series of daily missions, almost like a documentary or a TV series, each episode standing alone and yet building upon previous episodes, each one presenting a new danger, a new challenge, another piece of the puzzle that is the war in Iraq.
What makes this movie work is the recreation of Iraq in this movie - it was filmed in Jordan with local Iraqi expatriates. We feel the oppressive tension of the whole country, of not knowing who the bad guys are and where the next bomb or bullet is going to come from. We feel the fear and uncertainty of the American soldiers, caught between their desire to be the good guys and wanting to make nice with the local Iraqis, while constantly needing to remain vigilant and suspicious, never knowing who is a good Iraqi, and who deserves to get shot. We feel the bewilderment and resentment of the local Iraqis, who get pushed around at every turn by the American soldiers.
Unlike so many other recent Iraq war movies, this movie makes no political statements, there is no right or wrong here. These are just men at work, doing a dangerous and dirty job, and these guys are darn good at what they do for their country, whatever the reasons are that they are doing it.
Brilliant performance by Jeremy Renner June 26, 2009
Senor Zoidbergo (Washington D.C.)
75 out of 85 found this review helpful
I wasn't familiar with director Kathryn Bigelow's work prior to watching Hurt Locker (she directed Point Break, K-19, and others), but I am now a convert. She directed a brilliant and visceral Iraq war movie, which unlike many of its peers, is also apolitical. It's not overly preachy (In the Valley of Elah or Stop Loss) or pure action (The Kingdom), but manages to strike its own ground. The scenes are gritty, shaky; thankfully the shaky cam/documentary style footage is tastefully done here. The movie was filmed on location in Jordan, lending to the film's authenticity and immersivity. The viewer can almost taste the dust in the air, and feel the stares from the unwelcoming populace. It's the first mainstream movie to highlight the work of bomb defusal technicians , and it's a thankless and extremely hazardous job. The movie is Black Hawk Down good, albeit on a more intimate level.
The movie follows three members of Bravo Company's Explosive Ordanance Disposal (EOD) squad, as they struggle to finish the last few days of their year long tour of duty. Everyone copes differently; Specialist Eldridge (Geraghty) is overwhelmed at times with the death that surrounds them, Staff Sergeant James (Renner) is addicted to the rush of battle, and Sergeant Sanborn (Mackie) supports James as best he can. James is a complex, fascinating and tragic character; he's extremely competent, yet eccentric and even reckless to the point where his teammates consider fragging him in order to make it back alive. In a thoughtful gesture, he respects the work of his adversaries and keeps all the trigger mechanisms of bombs he has defused in the past. Every engagement the soldiers experience until their departure affects them, and we see every emotional impact.
Big Hollywood names like Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, and David Morse make short, but memorable appearances. Even LOST actress Evangelline Lily has an extended cameo as James' wife. The bomb defusal scenes are nerve-wracklingly tense, and the audience sweats alongside the defusing technician. The team constantly scans for snipers, or the suspicious civilian about to make a cell phone call to trigger an IED. The movie does an excellent job of communicating the hazards of the EOD job, and one leaves with a deep appreciation of their work.
6 stars, highly recommended. It is an action filled, yet contemplative movie.
'Bout time........ August 1, 2009
Master Blaster
99 out of 114 found this review helpful
As a retired Army Bomb Disposal Team Leader I have to say it's right up there with 'Danger UXB' and A+++++to the writer and the director!!! A really well done depiction without the usual Hollywood hype/litery license/theater/BS.
Oh, yea, about 'not being able to adjust after the regimented life', it has nothing to do with 'not being able to' and everything to do with 'not wanting to'. You'll enjoy the view into the lives of this very small brotherhood of military Bomb Disposers.
Forget Politics - "The Hurt Locker" is a film about the ugliness of war August 9, 2009
L. Quido (Tampa, FL United States)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
The DVD: The Hurt Locker
Katherine Bigelow seems an unlikely choice for the directorial helm of Matt Boal's script for a war-themed independent film, "The Hurt Locker" (and the title's unlikely, too). Boal was last seen penning "In the Valley of Elah" , in which he turned a laudable screenplay from a hauntingly true story he had written for Playboy. I personally think that Boal was arm-wrestled into many of the aspects of the screenplay by powerful director and co-writer Paul Haggis during "In the Valley". That, in fact, might be why Boal sought out someone who was more concerned about seeing the realism of the war in Iraq as it is, and not trying to politicize a story. The story, simply, is one of every day Americans confronted by the need to put their lives on the line in a country that is as hellish as the Iraq in 2004, in the wake of our great adventure there.
Hand-held camera shoots in "The Hurt Locker" give the gritty, real appearance of Iraq in the film. Bigelow shot in Jordan, when she could not overcome obstacles to filming in Kuwait, and the camera scenes can make one weary, in 137 minutes of film, But most of the film is so gripping, and the scenes portrayed do have a tendency to make everyone involved weary, weary of the war. Bigelow and Boal don't have to preach that war is hell, they just portray it in the realism of the film. We get it.
The story line involves a 3 person EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit, charged with finding and clearing explosive devices that seemingly litter the landscape in Iraq. I've done some fiction and non-fiction reading about bomb techs in metropolitan areas in the US, and recognize that the specialty is populated with people who live their lives knowing that the next assignment could cost them those self-same lives. Not a vocation for the weak at heart. As the film begins, the trio in the EOD Hummer includes the bomb tech, Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce in a good cameo), the driver, Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie, largely unsung before this film), and the Specialist, who acts as the lookout and the turret gun in the Hummer, Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). The three work well together.
In shocking and violent order, Thompson breathes his last, and is replaced with Staff Sgt James (Jeremy Renner who was cast as Dahmer early in his career in the film of the same name. Renner has kicked around film and TV since then - he appeared as a lead in "The Unusuals" in this TV season, opposite Amber Tamblyn. It was not renewed.). As James, Renner has turned in a performance so finally nuanced, that his name will no doubt come up at Oscar time.
Sanborn and Eldridge don't know what to make of the new bomb tech, who is silent and somewhat reckless, a contrast to the confident Thompson, who was a team player. Over the course of their time with him, you can sense the two of them swinging into his rhythm, learning to anticipate his quirky style and the aplomb with which he's handled 800 explosive devices. Attribute this to the strong delivery Renner brings to the "silent cowboy" type. The unit has only 39 days left on their tour.
With Eldridge, and to a lesser degree, Sanborn, your sense is that they are waiting on the edges of their chairs for the tour to be over, so that they can escape with their lives and revisit the hellish assignment in dreams. With James, you get the feel that the 39 days is not enough; that only when he is pursuing his special trade does he feel at one with the world. There are sidelines to James' story; one in his relationship with a young Iraqi boy, and one in his inability to shoulder his homelife with wife and young son.
Because of their vocation, and because of the reality of the fear in the Iraqi streets, the intensity in this film makes time pass swiftly, absorbs the viewer in the reality. The actual bombs are stark in their violence, the feel of the streets is that of underlying deception. There is a scene in the last half of the film where the unit encounters a group of contractors (cameos by Ralph Fiennes and David Morse), that potentially could have come out in editing, but it serves as a contrast of what the different dangers are when EOD units are exposed in the open desert, and not in the city streets.
And "the hurt locker" of the title? It stands for a collection kept by James of items found at the bomb scenes; items that immediately call each scene to mind in the collection of nightmares that he's grown addicted to. And he is addicted; never doubt that.
Realistic and timely, "The Hurt Locker" may be one of the best movies you can see this year.
One of the best films ever made about the Iraq conflict November 1, 2009
buru buru piggu (New York, NY USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, one of a scant few women directors in Hollywood, "The Hurt Locker" is the best film I've seen so far about the Iraq conflict. Categorized as a "war thriller", it centers on an elite US Army EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit and the dangers they encounter as they complete the final weeks of their year-long tour of duty. The film starts with a "cold open" (no credits or title card), throwing you right into middle of an IED defusal. We see three men engaging in playful banter while guiding a bomb disposal robot before a snag forces Thompson, the bomb tech (Guy Pearce), to attempt a manually defusal. The situation quickly escalates when Spc. Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) spots an insurgent holding a cellphone. Ordered by Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) to "burn him", Owen is paralyzed by fear and unable to pull the trigger, resulting in a detonation that kills Thompson.
Top-flight bomb disposal expert Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) is sent in as a replacement. Right away on their first mission, the team finds out that he is a reckless and impulsive loose cannon whose blatant disregard for operating procedures puts everyone's lives in danger. Over the course of the film, we see personality clashes develop, sometimes becoming violent, as J.T. and Owen accuse Will of endangering their lives for a high. Over time, however, J.T. comes to respect Will and the work he does. We see Will's intense dedication to his job and self-sacrifice in the face of overwhelming bodily peril.
Ralph Fiennes makes a brief appearance as the leader of a small group of British PMC's, as does a mustachioed David Morse, who is here for a short couple of minute as a loud and boisterous Colonel, mostly for comic effect.
The Hurt locker is a gritty, muscular, and visceral viewing experience. Filmed in a jittery cinema veritee style, we get a sense of immediacy and closeness that few other films employing this technique have been able to match. Where it was nauseating in Cloverfield or devoid of warmth in Public Enemies, it is tastefully and masterfully done here. I was never distracted or taken out of a scene to remark on the camerawork. The style really works here and enhanced the immersion I felt, heightening the tension level and perception of realism. I felt my heart racing in many of the high-tension scenes not knowing what would happen next, not an easy task given how jaded I've become as a result of Hollywood movie-making. Without a doubt, "The Hurt Locker" is one of the most thrilling and suspenseful military dramas I've seen in a long time. I must also remark on the sound design and music. All of it came together and felt very natural, further adding to the production value and enjoyability of this film. Last, I must warn of some extreme gore, particularly one scene towards the end.
Highly enjoyable and worth watching, especially if you enjoyed urban conflict films like Black Hawk Down. A must-own if you are a war film fan.
About the Blu-ray disc itself:
The Hurt Locker is a 50GB Region A disc sporting an excellent transfer, but the extras are thin, with only a director's commentary, a 12 minute making-of documentary, and a 23 minute narrated slideshow. Subtitles are English (SDH) and Spanish only, with an additional Spanish audio track. Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 221
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