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The Hurt Locker
2008
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. Read more
| Starring | Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce |
|---|---|
| Director | Kathryn Bigelow |
| Genres | Action/Adventure |
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The Hurt Locker
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.
| Starring | Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, Christian Camargo |
|---|---|
| Director | Kathryn Bigelow |
| Studio | LIONS GATE HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 6 mins Blu-ray: 2 hrs 11 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure |
| Language | DVD: English Blu-ray: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Released | DVD: 28 Dec 2009 Blu-ray: 28 Dec 2009 Production year: 2008 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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Check out our five star review of this gripping Iraq drama. read more »
- LOVEFiLM
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Most helpful member's review
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30 out of 31 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
"If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable."
Premiering at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, 'The Hurt Locker' received a ten minute standing ovation at the end of its screening. Subject to much critical praise, the film will finally reach British shores with its theatrical release in August 2009. Few films about the conflict in Iraq or Afghanistan have managed to capture the essence of what it means to be fighting in a country where anyone and everyone is a potential enemy, and the understandable stresses that places on the human mind and body. With a highly realistic aesthetic and almost non-stop tension 'The Hurt Locker' allows us mere mortals a glimpse of what it really means to fight for your country.
Opening with a regular day for an 'Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit' (bomb squad to you and me) the film starts as it means to go on with a very sudden and violent end for one of the team. Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner) is moved in to replace the lost soldier, and he is quick to prove to his fellow team members that he is a lot less concerned with his own safety then his predecessor. This is aptly shown when he suits up in the 'bomb suit' to investigate a suspected device personally rather than send in the bomb disposal robot first. Understandably his new colleagues aren't impressed, particularly Sergeant J.T. Sandborn (Anthony Mackie) who has trouble adjusting to a team leader who takes his earpiece out whenever the word “withdraw” is mentioned. The last member of the team, Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty), is also disturbed by the change in the team, but is too busy dealing with his own guilt over the death that brought James into their unit to really get worked up about him.
With the characters established the story takes us through a selection of the incidents the unit have to deal with during their rotation, not least of which is a sniper shoot out in the Iraqi desert, which is so painfully accurate it’s almost uncomfortable. Kathryn Bigelow (director of “Strange Days” and “Point Break” among others) amps up the tension in every scene of the conflict, keeping the audience not only on the edge of their seat but at times making them fall off it, and making you question if these highly likable characters are going to make it.
Excellent performances round out an almost perfect film, with believable dialogue and very naturalistic acting from not only the leads but the supporting cast and the extras, many of whom were genuine Iraqis living in Jordan, where the film was made. Combined with the camera work, that resembles embed journalist film rather than Hollywood shots, “The Hurt locker” amounts to a fantastic film experience, that still manages to not trivialise its subject matter, and will leave audiences wondering – “is it wrong that I don’t want this to end?” -
Most recent members' review
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10 out of 12 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
tick tick tick
The Hurt Locker is a pretty unconventional war film in that it completely side-swipes the politics and simply and effectively conveys the role of the soldier, and more specifically the bomb squad. And unlike the banality and inaction of war in Jarhead, as you might imagine from Kathryn Bigelow it's a tension-filled, action-packed ride from start to finish. These soldiers (or at least one of them) are having fun!
It IS conventional in other ways, and although I think the script is terrific and dialogue sparse - a good thing - it did remind me of Murtaugh and Riggs from the Lethal Weapon series at times. At one point Sergeant James utters 'I'm too old for this s**t'... The death of one particular character is also very predictable.
Great acting all round, could have done without the cameos, and sometimes the score is intrusive, The Hurt Locker doesn't really add anything new to the genre, but a pretty solid addition to the arsenal. -
News and features
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Mackie under threat on war movie set
- 02 Aug 2009
Anthony Mackie has ruled out making another lifelike war movie after constantly fearing for his life - for real - while filming The Hurt Locker in Jordan. The actor, who portrayed Tupac Shakur in Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious, admits he didn't have a great experience on the set of the gritty new film, in which he plays an army bomb squad expert. But sandstorms and poor conditions were the least of his worries - there was a constant threat that he and his castmates could be killed. He... Read more
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- Hurt Locker, The - BLU-RAY Version
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Based on the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional story), director Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War-set ... -
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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 ... -