War is a drug. Nobody knows that better than Staff Sergeant James, head of an elite squad of soldiers tasked with disarming bombs in the heat of combat. To do this nerve-shredding job, it's not enough to be the best: you have to thrive in a zone where the margin of error is zero, think as diabolically as a bomb-maker, and somehow survive with your body and soul intact. Powerfully realistic, action-packed, unrelenting and intense, The Hurt Locker has been hailed by critics as "an adrenaline-soaked tour de force" (A.O. Scott, The New York Times) and "one of the great war movies." (Richard Corliss, Time)
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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
War Junkie's:
This movie is ok, but I didn't think it was outstanding for a movie that has won an Oscar. The main character is a US Army Sergeant who is a Bomb Disposal Technician who has just been deployed to Iraq. He enjoys his job and the adrelien that goes with it. He is very good and professional at his job, but he seems to be addicted to the danger and violence. I thought the acting and special effects where excellent. I hope this movie reminds people at home in the U.S. and Australia what the average soldier is... more info
Not My Bag:
I'll give this movie a C for the realistic hand-held 1st person perspective of the horrors of war. This kind of movie isn't my thing, though. There really isn't a story. It's more like a day (or several days) in the lives of a small unit of soldiers. I felt like I'd enlisted for the 2 hours + of the movie. I watch movies for the entertainment value and there isn't any of that here.
A good fight:
National Review gave a good rating...so do I. It's nice to see a movie that supports our troops while telling a story about heroes in a positive light. I not going to tell you anything about it because I got it blind sided and think it would stand on its own merit.
Not Funny At All:
This movie isn't nearly as funny as its publicity campaign made it out to be. I didn't laugh out loud once. I cracked a bit of a smile when the shrink got blown up, but that was such an obvious punchline and I could see it coming from so far away that the impact was really muted. The Hurt Locker stars Jeremy Renner as the younger brother of Tom Cruise's character from Top Gun, who instead of fighting dastardly Russians gets to fight dastardly Iraqis with a blowing-stuff-up fetish. He's really reckless,... more info
