The Hurt Locker (2008)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writer (WGA):

Mark Boal (written by)

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (Italy)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

You'll know when you're in it.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Army | Soldier | Death | Sergeant

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Jeremy Renner	...	Staff Sergeant William James
Anthony Mackie	...	Sergeant JT Sanborn
Brian Geraghty	...	Specialist Owen Eldridge
Guy Pearce	...	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

MPAA:

Rated R for war violence and language.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Amman, Jordan

Company:

First Light Production

Trivia:

Actor 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.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Sergeant William James enters the "room" where the dead Iraqi boy lies. He walks through the plastic flaps. Using his right hand and then his left hand which holds the gun, to move the flaps. Yet a 3rd hand is seen moving flaps aside in the left bottom corner. But in the next shot it's only Staff Sergeant William James who is in the room. As he yells to his team mates that he has found something. Only then Sergeant JT Sanborn is seen moving the flaps and entering the room after that. Sergeant JT Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge are both wearing gloves. The hand that helped Sergeant William James, doesn't wear any, but does wear a golden bracelet.

Putting Bombs Away

Kathryn Bigelow is one of the few woman directors in Hollywood who can make a good action movies for the boys. With Heat Locker, this protégé of James Cameron turns up the heat in a movie clearly for the testosterone audience. Set in Iraq, the movie looks at a bunch of Bomb Disposal experts who are stationed in Baghdad for a count of days. As these men go through bomb after bomb losing fellow-soldiers along the way, the movie impresses upon the hopeless state to which the war-zone has fallen, and the mostly thankless high-risk job of the soldiers that risk their lives there. Yet the movie is not about the war, or its politics, but a zoned in look at one team's existence in it. While one soldier counts his days until they're relieved from duty, another lives at the thrill that the risk of their job brings them. Some great bomb sequences, a supremely-confidant lead performance by Jeremy Renner and a few awesome great cameos make this a great time at the movies. At least for the boys.