The Hurt Locker (2008)

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.

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writer:

Mark Boal

Stars:

Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty

Won 6 Oscars. Another 89 wins & 57 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeremy Renner	...	Sergeant First Class William James
Anthony Mackie	...	Sergeant JT Sanborn
Brian Geraghty	...	Specialist Owen Eldridge
Guy Pearce	...	Staff Sergeant Matt Thompson
Ralph Fiennes	...	Contractor Team Leader
David Morse	...	Colonel Reed
Evangeline Lilly	...	Connie James
Christian Camargo	...	Colonel John Cambridge
Suhail Aldabbach	...	Black Suit Man (as Suhail Al-Dabbach)
Christopher Sayegh	...	Beckham
Nabil Koni	...	Professor Nabil
Sam Spruell	...	Contractor Charlie
Sam Redford	...	Contractor Jimmy
Feisal Sadoun	...	Contractor Feisal
Barrie Rice	...	Contractor Chris

Storyline

An intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. 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. James behaves as if he's indifferent to death. 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.

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Plot Keywords:

bomb | sergeant | army | soldier | death | 

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Taglines:

You don't have to be a hero to do this job. But it helps.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for war violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic Turkish

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Vivir al límite

Filming Locations:

Amman, Jordan

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£308,887 (UK) (28 August 2009)

Gross:

$15,700,000 (USA) (5 March 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Voltage Pictures, Grosvenor Park Media, Film Capital Europe Funds (FCEF )

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jeremy Renner tripped and fell down some stairs while carrying an Iraqi boy on the film's set. Shooting was stopped for several days while Renner's ankle healed.

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Goofs

When James carries the boy's body out of the building facing the camera, the boy's head is sagging off his arm when he's facing the camera, but resting against his chest when the camera's behind him.

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Quotes

Guard at Liberty Gate: [after catching James coming back into the camp after having snuck out] What the fuck are you doing?
Staff Sergeant William James: Visiting a whorehouse.
Guard at Liberty Gate: Okay. If I let you in, will you tell me where it is exactly?

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits, not even a title.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #18.13 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Your Smiling Face"
Written by Norman Candler
Performed by The Norman Candler Strings
Courtesy of APM Music

User Reviews

Just like the war it portrays, this film lacks direction, focus and clarity of purpose.

This is a different kind of war movie for a different kind of war that ultimately fails in the same ways the war fails - in that it lacks a singular focus, it has no direction or goal, and the purpose is not clear. It's not a bad movie, I just couldn't find anything to connect to or engage with - and when a moment would arise in which I thought that thing to connect to was coming... it didn't.

The film drags along at a snail's pace at times, which works for some scenes, such as a great scene wherein the main characters are pinned down for several hours by insurgents in the middle of the desert - but mostly the slowness just feels slow. There is no real story here, yet it isn't just a docudrama, either. It doesn't seem to know what kind of a movie it is, or from which characters' view point it is being told. In my opinion the story that it started to tell (and would have made it a much more interesting film) was of the drug-like addictive nature of high risk behavior, and how people who engage in that sort of thing in war will return to civilian life only to find other dangerous, high risk behavior to engage in... which is not dissimilar thematically to another of director Kathryn Bigelow's films, "Point Break". Alas, it seemed as if she forgot about that angle halfway thru the film. The worst part of the film is the ending, which after 125 minutes of slow pacing suddenly races past what should have and could have given the film its purpose.

If I had seen this film back when it first came out, I think I would have said, "OK. A well-acted, decent film despite its problems." The thought that this film would be nominated for and would win so many major awards, including being the front runner for any Oscar whatsoever -- would not have even crossed my mind, and it is mindboggling to me now that that is the case.