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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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Last updated: November 17, 2009, 9:05 pm

The Hurt Locker [Blu-ray] Customer reviews:

Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 29

(Jiang Xueqin, 2009-11-10) "The Hurt Locker" begins when a U.S. army bomb technician is killed, and he is replaced by Staff Sergeant James, a reckless ex-Ranger for whom "war is a drug." He is the anti-hero of Kathryn Bigelow's film, a man so addicted to and absorbed with danger that he recklessly puts at risk his two teammates and cannot even talk to his wife. The man is in fact so narcissistic that he mistakenly identifies a young boy who is killed and turned into a human bomb as a boy he knows, and madly jumps alone into the dark night in search of the boy's killers. As a psychopath Sergeant James should have gotten his two teammates killed, but somehow he manages to save both. Specialist Eldridge becomes depressed and angry when he fails to shoot dead the man responsible for his sergeant's death. He encourages his psychiatrist to visit the field, and the psychiatrist does, only to be blown away by an IED. On his last mission Eldridge is almost kidnapped by insurgents, but is saved by Sergeant James and Sergeant Sanborn. James shoots Eldridge's foot, ending Eldridge's tour. Eldridge understandably blames James' reckless heroics for his plight, but if Eldridge had stayed in the battlefield he would have probably gone insane. And then there's Sanborn, who as an intelligence officer turned bomb tech support thought he was like James, but James showed him that couldn't possibly be true. In the end, when a bomb almost kills him, Sanborn decides he wants to live, and wants to finally hold a baby son in his hands. When James is finally holding his baby son with his own hands, James can only tell him that he wasn't meant to raise a family; in fact he was meant to do only one thing. The movie closes with James returning to Iraq, and heading to defuse a bomb by himself. The movie has received much critical acclaim, and while there's a striking ambiguity and ambivalence to the film that is rare in Hollywood it nevertheless is a shallow and predictable film. There's a lot to commend about the film. The nameless faceless enemy that James and his team battle are everywhere and nowhere, and is an apt representation of the enemy that the Americans are facing in Iraq: against resourceful numerous phantoms the war is to survive, not to win. James is an interesting character, but he's really underdeveloped, and we're supposed to take his complexity at face value when the director works very little to develop his full complexity. The movie's major limitation though is the hackneyed plot lines and story arcs that it follows. In terms of an artistic documentation of the war as well as a parable into the horrors of war HBO's "Generation Kill" is far more appealing. In the 7-part series a platoon of recon Marines is spearheading the invasion of Iraq. They are armed and ready to kill, but there's a splendid innocence to them. They joke around easily, and they share a strong bond that only imminent danger could instill. The stupidity and arrogance of war and its planners soon overwhelm them, and by the end they're fighting and bickering amongst themselves, questioning their very identity as American soldiers. The executive producers were the same team that created "The Wire," and "Generation Kill" also had the same raw, gritty feel that made "The Wire" so compelling to watch. Compared with "Generation Kill" Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" seems insincere and flawed.

(Clinton Enlow, 2009-11-03) I've been a Kathryn Bigelow since Strange Days. I'll admit in a career thats included Point Break and Near Dark, thats not a real good statement, but truthfully thats the first film of hers I saw as a young adult and one that made an impression on me. Now years later and having seen films of hers like the aforementioned ones I can be impressed with this impressive director breaking a mold in the action film market and making some of the best guy movies ever. I had been waiting for The Hurt Locker since hearing about it a couple of years ago. I'll admit I don't watch too many movies on the Iraq war, but with Bigelow in the directors seat and a story that wasn't aiming for a political angle I perked up. I didn't see many movies in theatres this year, but seeing something like this in theatres missing out on Transformers or Wolverine didn't matter that much. As it is The Hurt Locker is a rather simple story focusing on an EOD's tour that is quickly coming to an end. The first nine minutes sets up what the movie will be with a tense scene where a simple job goes awry when a man steps out of a door holding what might be cell phone. Its an incredibly tense little scene thats topped easily by others. But more than the scenes the movie is brilliantly about character, two in particular. The first is the main one, William James, a loose cannon maverick who puts himself in harms way knowingly, taking chances and generally putting the other two members of his team in a flux. JT Sanborn is more of a straight arrow who does things by the book because He wants to survive his tour doing his job the way He was trained to. And Owen Eldridge is the younger member of the team quietly suffering from the deaths He's witnessed and seeking therapy from Col. Cambridge. Thats a basic rundown of the story, three characters surviving a bevy of engagements and the way they interact with each other. While Eldridge is a good character the real meat of the story comes between the conflict between Sanborn and James escalating in a final scenes where both Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie really excelled in my opinion. Better though was a final scene following James at a banal home life, cleaning out his storm drains and grocery shopping with his wife. Theres a small bit of dialogue with Jeremy Renner speaking to infant son that put the movie in some of the same territory as Bigelow's Point Break, only on a more dramatic footing. For this small scene alone I would be suprised if Renner doesn't recieve a large ammount of nominations. Bigelow as well deserves a lot of credit in trying to ground the movie in some sort of reality, building most of the action around suspense instead of simple action- check out the sniper scene, the only gunfight of the movie as the team bonds trading shots with gunmen. Truthfully the movie is far from perfect with a few scenes that did stretch credibility. I'll admit I'm not a soldier so I won't argue the truth with a few scenes. Then again the film is still a movie and a few scenes are a minor quibble on what is otherwise a great film, well worth your time.

(buru buru piggu, 2009-11-01) Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, one of 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, furthering 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. I'm looking forward to the Blu-ray release.

(Tara, 2009-10-23) Since I can't put it any better than Richard T. Jameson all I can say is that I agree with him 100%. This is my personal favorite of Kathryn's since Near Dark and also goes on my All Time Best list. Thank you KB for being the brave and innovative woman filmmaker you are!!

(Kris King, 2009-10-10) "The Hurt Locker" is brilliant! This is how the story goes: In the summer of 2004, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge of Bravo Company are at the volatile center of the war, part of a small counterforce specifically trained to handle the homemade bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), that account for more than half of American hostile deaths and have killed thousands of Iraqis. A high-pressure, high-stakes assignment, the job leaves no room for mistakes, as they learn when they lose their team leader on a mission. When Staff Sergeant William James takes over the team, Sanborn and Eldridge are shocked by what seems like his reckless disregard for military protocol and basic safety measures. And yet, in the fog of war, appearances are never reliable for long. Is James really a swaggering cowboy who lives for peak experiences and the moments when the margin of error is zero - or is he a consummate professional who has honed his esoteric craft to high-wire precision? As the fiery chaos of Baghdad swirls around them, the men struggle to understand and contain their new leader long enough for them to make it home. They have only 38 days left in their tour of Iraq, but with each new mission comes another deadly encounter, and as James blurs the line between bravery and bravado, it seems only a matter of time before disaster will strike. The cast led by Jeremy Renner (in an Oscar-caliber performance as James) & Anthony Mackie (equally impressive as Sanborn) is excellent! The directing by Kathryn Bigelow (also produced) (who also wrote and directed "Near Dark" (1987), directed "Point Break" (1991) & "Strange Days" (1995) is brilliant! The story & screenplay by Mark Boal (also produced) (who also wrote the story to "The Valley Of Elah" (2007) is brilliant! The music by Marco Beltrami (who also did the music to "Knowing" (2009), & The "Scream" movies (1996, 1997, 2000, & in upcoming 2010) & Buck Sanders (both did the music to "Max Payne" (2008) is excellent! The cinematography by Barry Ackroyd (who also did the cinematography to "United 93" (2006) & the upcoming "Green Zone" (2010), both which were directed by Paul Greengrass) is excellent! The film editing by Chris Innis & Bob Murawski (who also did the film editing to most of Sam Raimi's movies, recently including, "Drag Me To Hell" (2009) & the upcoming "Spider-Man 4" (2011) is excellent! The casting by Mark Bennett (who also did the casting to "The Hills Have Eyes" (2006) & its sequel (2007) is excellent! The production design by Karl Júlíusson (who also did the production design to "The Weight Of Water" (2000, which was also directed by Bigelow) & "K-19: The Widowmaker" (2002, also produced and directed by Bigelow) is excellent! The art direction by David Bryan is excellent! The set decoration by Amin Charif El Masri is excellent! The costume design by George L. Little (who also did the costume design to the upcoming "The Crazies" (2010) is excellent! This is an impressive action-thriller / war film that is better than most done recently. This is one of the best films of the year, if not, the best film of the year. This will possibly be remembered during Oscar season.

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