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DarthRad |
Date: 2009-06-27

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.

Master Blaster |
Date: 2009-08-01

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.

Senor Zoidbergo |
Date: 2009-06-26

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.

Grigory's Girl |
Date: 2010-02-19

Katherine Bigelow's film The Hurt Locker is a great war film. It's one of the best war films made in the last 10 years or so. It's also one of the most intense, sweat inducing films I've seen in a while.

The film started out a little iffy. There was some overly macho dialogue at the beginning, and I felt that I may be disappointed at this film because there's a ton of hype on it.

My fears were misplaced. After the opening sequence (which isn't as bad as I first thought), this film is totally immersion. Rarely has a film really given a sense of battle and of urban warfare like Katherine Bigelow's The Hurt Locker does. The only other film you can really compare this to is Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (the 2nd half). That 2nd half and this film are very similiar in their attitude towards war. Both films just show how it is, and how crazy urban warfare is. I would venture to say that Bigelow's film is stronger than Kubrick's in that you have a much more acute sense of place and time. Kubrick recreated Hue City in England (there was a bombed out gas works outside London that was converted). Bigelow shot her film on location in Jordan, and it's a much better approach. The film is also terrifying in that when you're in urban warfare, cities can be like ghost towns. You can't tell who is your friend or who is your enemy. One person can be a friend one day and an enemy an hour later.

The performances are first rate. There isn't a false note in the entire film. The film progresses from amazing setpiece to amazing setpiece. The film just cuts to the experience of war and the nerve wracking existence of men who disarm IED's for a living.

REVIEW MODIFIED ON 3/8/10....

Bigelow's direction is masterful. She never resorts to any trivial or sentimentality. She also never talks about the reasons we're in Iraq. There are no politics on display here (Bigelow has no political agenda, even though some who just hate Hollywood will insist that she does), which make this film much more effective. Bigelow won the DGA award for directing, and has become the first female director to win the Oscar for Best Director. The first female winning is all fine and everything, but the most important thing is that Katherine will win for making a first rate film. To her credit, she's never played the PC, gender card (she's never played it in her whole career actually), and she won it because she's really earned it. That's awesome.

buru buru piggu |
Date: 2009-11-01

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.