The Hurt Locker |  | Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Actors: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $26.99
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Rating:  466 reviews
Sales Rank: 434
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English (Unknown)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 131 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: SUMD66112279D
UPC: 025192048555
EAN: 0025192048555
ASIN: B00275EGWY
Theatrical Release Date: June 26, 2009
Release Date: January 12, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
IRAQ. FORCED TO PLAY A DANGEROUS GAME OF CAT-AND-MOUSE IN THE CHAOS OF WAR, AN ELITE ARMY BOMB SQUAD UNIT MUST COME TOGETHER IN A CITY WHERE EVERYONE IS A POTENTIAL ENEMY AND EVERY OBJECT COULD BE A DEADLY BOMB.
Amazon.com
The making of honest action movies has become so rare that Kathryn Bigelow's magnificent The Hurt Locker was shown mostly in art cinemas rather than multiplexes. That's fine; the picture is a work of art. But it also delivers more kinetic excitement, more breath-bating suspense, more putting-you-right-there in the danger zone than all the brain-dead, visually incoherent wrecking derbies hogging mall screens. Partly it's a matter of subject. The movie focuses on an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, the guys whose more or less daily job is to disarm the homemade bombs that have accounted for most U.S. casualties in Iraq. But even more, the film's extraordinary tension derives from the precision and intelligence of Bigelow's direction. She gets every sweaty detail and tactical nuance in the close-up confrontation of man and bomb, while keeping us alert to the volatile wraparound reality of an ineluctably foreign environment--hot streets and blank-walled buildings full of onlookers, some merely curious and some hostile, perhaps thumbing a cellphone that could become a trigger. This is exemplary moviemaking. You don't need CGI, just a human eye, and the imagination to realize that, say, the sight of dust and scale popped off a derelict car by an explosion half a block away delivers more shock value than a pixelated fireball. The setting may be Iraq in 2004, but it could just as well be Thermopylae; The Hurt Locker is no "Iraq War movie." Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal--who did time as a journalist embed with an EOD unit--align themselves with neither supporters nor opponents of the U.S. involvement. There's no politics here. War is just the job the characters in the movie do. One in particular, the supremely resourceful staff sergeant played by Jeremy Renner, is addicted to the almost nonstop adrenaline rush and the opportunity to express his esoteric, life-on-the-edge genius. The hurt locker of the title is a box he keeps under his bunk, filled with bomb parts and other signatory memorabilia of "things that could have killed me." That none of it has killed him so far is no real consolation. In this movie, you never know who's going to go and when; even high-profile talent (we won't name names here) is no guarantee. But one thing can be guaranteed, and that is that almost every sequence in the movie becomes a riveting, often fiercely enigmatic set piece. This is Kathryn Bigelow's best film since 1987's Near Dark. It could also be the best film of 2009. --Richard T. Jameson
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 466
 Taut war drama exploring the psychology of soldiering June 27, 2009
DarthRad (CA United States)
227 out of 283 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.
'Bout time........ August 1, 2009
Master Blaster
116 out of 149 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.
Brilliant performance by Jeremy Renner June 26, 2009
Senor Zoidbergo (Washington D.C.)
92 out of 118 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.
Sweat inducing, claustrophobic, surreal war film, a really great piece of cinema... February 19, 2010
Grigory's Girl (NYC)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
Riveting and eye opening August 8, 2010
Irfan A. Alvi (Towson, MD USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The ratings of this movie are surprisingly all over the place, so I read many reviews to try to understand why. It appears that a major area of contention is whether this movie is sufficiently realistic. A number of people with military experience, including some with experience in Iraq, argue that the movie is too unrealistic, but their complaints often focus on technicalities which, though not always trivial, perhaps aren't too important for the typical non-military viewer. And there are also a number of military people who find the movie quite realistic, so it seems that the experiences of military people vary substantially. Considering all of this, my sense is that the movie reasonably faithfully portrays at least the essence of the experiences of at least some military people, so it's accurate enough for its purpose.
If so, I found this movie to be a powerful and riveting depiction of why "war is hell," including "war" which is actually occupation. On the American side, our troops face a situation where they often can't tell friend from foe, they can die very unexpectedly and suddenly, and they're constant witness to destruction and death, including the death of people who become their friends. On the Iraqi side, they have the natural resentment, bitterness, and defiance of people who are being occupied by a foreign power. Never before have I had a such a clear sense of why war must be avoided unless there's truly no other reasonable option.
This leads to the issue of whether the movie has a political message. Many reviewers have argued that it doesn't overtly have such a message, and I agree. But, at the same time, by depicting how pointless and detrimental the occupation of Iraq is, with suffering on all sides, the movie does help to clarify why we never should have gone into Iraq in the first place, and why we need to get out ASAP. Let's remember that inspectors had already failed to find any WMDs after extensive searching, there was never any credible link between Iraq and 9/11, and there was never any credible evidence or argument showing that Iraq posed a genuine threat to the US. By going in there, all we've done is destabilize Iraq and open the floodgates of civil war, cause a huge loss of life on all sides, expend many billions of dollars (which we obviously can't afford), and make America LESS safe. The only parties which seem to have benefitted are the defense contractors who have made tons of money at the expense of the American public (you and me). If we really want to "support our troops," we need to get them out of harms way and bring them home to their families, rather than asking them to endure enormous hardships and risk their lives for a conflict which makes no sense.
Anyway, getting back to the movie, my point is that the movie vividly illustrates the basis for my comments. Very highly recommended.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 466
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