The Hurt Locker

The movie opens with the quote - "the rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug" (a modern paraphrase of Churchill's older and more famous maxim - "there is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result")

This is a thriller of a movie about a U.S. Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq and their daily grind in dealing with the IEDs and insurgents there.

This movie does have several stars - but Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pierce, and Evangeline Lilly all have fairly small roles. Blink, and you'll miss them. Their presence in this movie is more a testament to director/producer Kathryn Bigelow's status in the entertainment industry than anything else.

Jeremy Renner is Sergeant James, a bomb tech. Unlike his affable predecessor, he is a wild man. He seems not only indifferent to the dangers of his job, he absolutely revels in the dangers. It is the ultimate in thrill seeking behavior, getting that dopamine surge in his brain. Near the end of the movie, Sgt. James gets accused of being an adrenaline junkie, but we know now that the neurochemical at work here is dopamine. Bomb disposal is not just a job for him, but his passion, his addiction, his reason for being in the Army.

Renner's character ends up like a cross between Elmer Fudd, with his perpetually placid and slightly befuddled gaze, and Bugs Bunny, with his wile and lust for excitement and danger.

His two partners in the unit, Sgt. Sanborn and Specialist Eldridge, who have to cover him and just want to survive their tour of duty, don't know quite how to deal with his determination to confront danger. One wonders at why Sgt. James puts himself in danger, why he takes the extra risks to defuse a bomb when detonating it would do. The scene that explains it all is when Sgt. James returns home to America one day and we see him doing the mundane chores of life as a civilian, cleaning out the rain gutters, cleaning up the kitchen, shopping with his wife and baby at the grocery store. As he stares at an entire wall full of colorful cereal boxes stacked along a grocery store aisle, a look of utter blankness, boredom, and despair fills his face.....nope, not for him, this dull life as a civilian....

The movie's storyline is a series of daily missions, almost like a documentary or a TV series, each episode standing alone and yet building upon previous episodes, each one presenting a new danger, a new challenge, another piece of the puzzle that is the war in Iraq.

What makes this movie work is the recreation of Iraq in this movie - it was filmed in Jordan with local Iraqi expatriates. We feel the oppressive tension of the whole country, of not knowing who the bad guys are and where the next bomb or bullet is going to come from. We feel the fear and uncertainty of the American soldiers, caught between their desire to be the good guys and wanting to make nice with the local Iraqis, while constantly needing to remain vigilant and suspicious, never knowing who is a good Iraqi, and who deserves to get shot. We feel the bewilderment and resentment of the local Iraqis, who get pushed around at every turn by the American soldiers.

Unlike so many other recent Iraq war movies, this movie makes no political statements, there is no right or wrong here. These are just men at work, doing a dangerous and dirty job, and these guys are darn good at what they do for their country, whatever the reasons are that they are doing it.

I wasn't familiar with director Kathryn Bigelow's work prior to watching Hurt Locker (she directed Point Break, K-19, and others), but I am now a convert. She directed a brilliant and visceral Iraq war movie, which unlike many of its peers, is also apolitical. It's not overly preachy (In the Valley of Elah or Stop Loss) or pure action (The Kingdom), but manages to strike its own ground. The scenes are gritty, shaky; thankfully the shaky cam/documentary style footage is tastefully done here. The movie was filmed on location in Jordan, lending to the film's authenticity and immersivity. The viewer can almost taste the dust in the air, and feel the stares from the unwelcoming populace. It's the first mainstream movie to highlight the work of bomb defusal technicians , and it's a thankless and extremely hazardous job. The movie is Black Hawk Down good, albeit on a more intimate level.


The movie follows three members of Bravo Company's Explosive Ordanance Disposal (EOD) squad, as they struggle to finish the last few days of their year long tour of duty. Everyone copes differently; Specialist Eldridge (Geraghty) is overwhelmed at times with the death that surrounds them, Staff Sergeant James (Renner) is addicted to the rush of battle, and Sergeant Sanborn (Mackie) supports James as best he can. James is a complex, fascinating and tragic character; he's extremely competent, yet eccentric and even reckless to the point where his teammates consider fragging him in order to make it back alive. In a thoughtful gesture, he respects the work of his adversaries and keeps all the trigger mechanisms of bombs he has defused in the past. Every engagement the soldiers experience until their departure affects them, and we see every emotional impact.


Big Hollywood names like Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, and David Morse make short, but memorable appearances. Even LOST actress Evangelline Lily has an extended cameo as James' wife. The bomb defusal scenes are nerve-wracklingly tense, and the audience sweats alongside the defusing technician. The team constantly scans for snipers, or the suspicious civilian about to make a cell phone call to trigger an IED. The movie does an excellent job of communicating the hazards of the EOD job, and one leaves with a deep appreciation of their work.


6 stars, highly recommended. It is an action filled, yet contemplative movie.

As a retired Army Bomb Disposal Team Leader I have to say it's right up there with 'Danger UXB' and A+++++to the writer and the director!!! A really well done depiction without the usual Hollywood hype/litery license/theater/BS.
Oh, yea, about 'not being able to adjust after the regimented life', it has nothing to do with 'not being able to' and everything to do with 'not wanting to'. You'll enjoy the view into the lives of this very small brotherhood of military Bomb Disposers.

Had I not served in Iraq in 2004, perhaps I could have maintained a suspension of disbelief and enjoyed the film. However, it is extremely irritating to have the producers of this film and high-level movie critics gush about an "accurate depiction of war" when it is about as close as 2001: A Space Odyssey is to an accurate depiction of NASA. The writer claimed he spent "some time" embedded with an EOD unit, but I can't imagine his time amounted to too much more than a week.

Let's start with some glaring discrepencies. In the film, all soldiers seen are wearing uniforms known as ACUs, which feature the digital camouflage pattern. In 2004, those uniforms had not yet been fully developed or issued. Soldiers wore the DCUs, which feature tan and brown woodland-style camouflage patterns. ACUs were being field-tested with select units, but the prototypes still retained the traditional camo. At that time, only the Marines were wearing uniforms with digital patterns, though their uniforms feature different color patterns and different cuts. Additionally, every soldier wears an American flag patch on the right shoulder. These were conspicuously absent throughout.

The presentation of humvees and other military vehicles add a further level of unreality. Military vehicles typically have unit and vehicle identifations stenciled on bumpers, doors, or hoods. The names of principle occupants are usually stenciled on each side of the windshield. The dashboard and area between the front seats is packed full of radio equipment. There are generally MREs and misc. mission oriented debris lying around the interior. Not much of this was evident. What was evident was the utterly and completely absurd medivac scene that featured HUEY helicopters. Yes, those same Hueys that saw a great deal of service during the Vietnam War, but have long been replaced by the ubiquitous Blackhawk.

The ridiculous misrepresentation, misuse, and absence of military equipment continues on down to things like night optical devices (NODs). NODs are those things soldiers strap to their helmets and flip down over their eyes to see in the dark. All throughout the movie, the three main characters are shown to have the NOD mounting plates attached to their helmets. Yet, when they tear off on a hunt for bad guys during a night mission they run around shining flashlights, which is tactically one of the dumbest things a soldier could do.

Running around with flashlights at night is but one example of things real soldiers would not do. They would not split up "to cover more ground." An enlisted soldier would not call a colonel "colonel." He would call the colonel "sir." A soldier would not sneak out of base disguised as a civilian, hijack an Iraqi's car at gunpoint, confront an Iraqi family, then weasel his way back on base with the lame excuse he'd been to whorehouse. There would have been serious consequences to his actions. The film gives the impression that the three EOD soldiers are gun totin' cowboys who answer to no one. In reality, there would be commanding officer who would, at the least, issue operation orders and hold the NCOs to a certain level of accountability.

The characters themselves are fairly unbelievabe. They don't talk like real soldiers. I didn't hear "hooah" uttered once. Nor did I hear much of the plethora of abbreviations and acronyms that comprises the military jargon spoken by soldiers. While SSG James' two sidekicks are cardboard cut-outs of Hollywood military cliches, James himself is an erratic, irresponsible, borderline-psychopath who would not last long in the leadership of men or the diffusement of bombs. His obsession/concern for the Iraqi boy he has unrealistically befriended is completely out of character.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. On the plus side, the landscape does look like Iraq, and the urban shots replicate the appearance of Baghdad quite well. The acting is adequate, I suppose, but I was not particularly enthusiastic about any specific performance. Quite frankly, it amazes me that they would make a film this sloppy and inaccurate, when correct information is so readily available. As it is, this is not a realistic war movie; it is a fantasy with nearly as much imagination as Avatar.

On a closing note, if you want to see an excellent film that provides an accurate view of the Iraq War in 2004, check out "The War Tapes." It's a documentary shot by soldiers themselves, and provides honest insight into the impact of war's daily grind.

Watching The Hurt Locker is quite an experience. It feels so real that you will leave the theater thinking you just spent a little over two hours under the Iraq sun, spitting sand out of your teeth. Word of mouth and some great reviews from just about every critic in the country got me to notice this under the radar gem of a film. There are so many moments of suspense that are built up brilliantly, most of which involving bomb defusion. All of the lead and supporting actors (Ralph Fiennes in a tiny role) are extremely believable, but Jeremy Renner steals the show. This is a star making performance that should be honored with a nomination come Oscar season. I've only seen him on The Unusuals (an average new TV show), but he is capable of much bigger and better things if he sticks to doing movies and roles of this calibur.

The Hurt Locker is one of the better films of 2009 and is easily in my top 5 war flicks ever. It's an honest look, without taking sides or pushing the filmmaker's agenda. One things for sure, no movie about the Iraq war even comes close to this one in terms of realism and I don't expect any will in the near future. When you see it, you'll understand why this one stands alone.

I wonder what sort of review I would have given "the Hurt Locker" had I not spent 11 years in the Army (about half active duty and the other half reserve and the Guard). I probably would have liked it a lot, but my military experience (which predates the Iraq War but did involve Yugoslavia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 1990 and 1991, and Panama in 1989 made the departures from realism (that were invisible to a lot of reviewers here) stand out like blinking neon signs:

1. I thought the idea of the "cowboy" EOD technician sneaking out of the base to go on his own into downtown Baghdad at night in 2004 was laughable, when you think about the fact that I'm sure every soldier over there knows that if they fell into enemy hands, they could expect extremely unpleasant deaths.

2. Set aside the unrealism in item 1, the fact that the cowboy didn't get in trouble for doing something so outrageously stupid and criminal (since he did force an Iraqi at gunpoint to take him downtown) was also ludicrous.

3. I will defer to soldiers and Marines who have served over there and especially to EOD technicians, but I found myself extremely dubious that those guys would be out by themselves in such a dangerous environment. No, they would have had security with them in the form of infantry who would keep watch and protect them while they did their work.

4. The absence of officers apart from one who gushes about the bravery of the cowboy EOD tech and the psychiatrist who gets himself blown up was unrealistic too. Those guys would have answered to a captain or a lieutenant, or a warrant officer in real life.

5. The whole interlude where they were out in the desert with some British mercenaries (or at least that's what I thought they were) was a jarring disconnect given the fact that these guys were EOD techs and not special forces operators. The fact that they were out there by themselves for a prolonged period made no sense since in real life, they would have been yelling on the radio for a quick reaction force or even support from a helicopter.

6. I also found myself thinking, "this is BS" when the two EOD technicians suddenly became a highly effective sniper team operating a weapon that I would imagine very few service personnel who aren't trained and designated snipers or SF operators would ever see (a Barrett .50 caliber rifle)

"The Hurt Locker" has some beautiful and striking visuals and there are some scenes with genuine tension like when the cowboy EOD tech discovers that the single IED he's found is only the first stage in a multiple IED set up...but as I said in my review title, these moments of genuine, realistic excitement got overwhelmed by the silly stuff.

Frankly, if you want to see bomb disposal work that looks more realistic to my eyes at least, you should try renting or buying the British series "Danger UXB." That seemed far more realistic than "the Hurt Locker"

DANGER UXB

Update: According to someone who works EOD who made a comment below, EOD teams sometimes use Barrett rifles to blow up devices, so the two guys playing sniper wasn't quite as silly as I thought it was ... but the overall interlude of them out there with the British mercs remained very silly in my view.

I was deployed as a Combat Engineer in Baghdad with the 1st Cav division Feb 04 - Feb 05. I found this movie was very Hollywood. They did a nice selection in the location of the film as it did look a lot like Baghdad. However, the story line was too flawed. I was a bit confused why the soldiers were wearing ACU uniforms as, while I was there, those were not issued. The film supposedly was taking place in 2004. Soldiers were still wearing the DCU uniforms in 2004. I was highly disturbed by the portrayal of the main character having no accountability. He seemed to go where ever he wanted, when ever he wanted and did what ever he wanted without having to answer to a higher commander. This of course, any veteran, anyone in the military, will tell you simply does not happen. There is always someone that you have to answer to for your actions. When he snuck off of post to find Beckhams father was just absurd and pure Hollywood. I was disturbed by the scene with the team of EOD guys drinking. Alcohol was forbidden and still is. Of course there were many soldiers who obtained alcohol, but by and large, most did not drink. To see an entire "team" sharing booze together just was not very realistic. The team also always seemed to operate independently. They never seemed to be with anyone else and never had support. Watching the three of them clear a building by themselves was silly. Why was ther enever any supporting infantry units? They traveled by themselves in a lone hummer. In 2004, if I remember correctly, we were not allowed outside the wire unless we were in a convoy of at least 3 vehicles. All in all, this was a pure Hollywood film and certainly does not live up to the billing as being the most "realistic" Iraq war movie so far.

The DVD: The Hurt Locker

Katherine Bigelow seems an unlikely choice for the directorial helm of Matt Boal's script for a war-themed independent film, "The Hurt Locker" (and the title's unlikely, too). Boal was last seen penning "In the Valley of Elah" , in which he turned a laudable screenplay from a hauntingly true story he had written for Playboy. I personally think that Boal was arm-wrestled into many of the aspects of the screenplay by powerful director and co-writer Paul Haggis during "In the Valley". That, in fact, might be why Boal sought out someone who was more concerned about seeing the realism of the war in Iraq as it is, and not trying to politicize a story. The story, simply, is one of every day Americans confronted by the need to put their lives on the line in a country that is as hellish as the Iraq in 2004, in the wake of our great adventure there.

Hand-held camera shoots in "The Hurt Locker" give the gritty, real appearance of Iraq in the film. Bigelow shot in Jordan, when she could not overcome obstacles to filming in Kuwait, and the camera scenes can make one weary, in 137 minutes of film, But most of the film is so gripping, and the scenes portrayed do have a tendency to make everyone involved weary, weary of the war. Bigelow and Boal don't have to preach that war is hell, they just portray it in the realism of the film. We get it.

The story line involves a 3 person EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit, charged with finding and clearing explosive devices that seemingly litter the landscape in Iraq. I've done some fiction and non-fiction reading about bomb techs in metropolitan areas in the US, and recognize that the specialty is populated with people who live their lives knowing that the next assignment could cost them those self-same lives. Not a vocation for the weak at heart. As the film begins, the trio in the EOD Hummer includes the bomb tech, Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce in a good cameo), the driver, Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie, largely unsung before this film), and the Specialist, who acts as the lookout and the turret gun in the Hummer, Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). The three work well together.

In shocking and violent order, Thompson breathes his last, and is replaced with Staff Sgt James (Jeremy Renner who was cast as Dahmer early in his career in the film of the same name. Renner has kicked around film and TV since then - he appeared as a lead in "The Unusuals" in this TV season, opposite Amber Tamblyn. It was not renewed.). As James, Renner has turned in a performance so finally nuanced, that his name will no doubt come up at Oscar time.

Sanborn and Eldridge don't know what to make of the new bomb tech, who is silent and somewhat reckless, a contrast to the confident Thompson, who was a team player. Over the course of their time with him, you can sense the two of them swinging into his rhythm, learning to anticipate his quirky style and the aplomb with which he's handled 800 explosive devices. Attribute this to the strong delivery Renner brings to the "silent cowboy" type. The unit has only 39 days left on their tour.

With Eldridge, and to a lesser degree, Sanborn, your sense is that they are waiting on the edges of their chairs for the tour to be over, so that they can escape with their lives and revisit the hellish assignment in dreams. With James, you get the feel that the 39 days is not enough; that only when he is pursuing his special trade does he feel at one with the world. There are sidelines to James' story; one in his relationship with a young Iraqi boy, and one in his inability to shoulder his homelife with wife and young son.


Because of their vocation, and because of the reality of the fear in the Iraqi streets, the intensity in this film makes time pass swiftly, absorbs the viewer in the reality. The actual bombs are stark in their violence, the feel of the streets is that of underlying deception. There is a scene in the last half of the film where the unit encounters a group of contractors (cameos by Ralph Fiennes and David Morse), that potentially could have come out in editing, but it serves as a contrast of what the different dangers are when EOD units are exposed in the open desert, and not in the city streets.


And "the hurt locker" of the title? It stands for a collection kept by James of items found at the bomb scenes; items that immediately call each scene to mind in the collection of nightmares that he's grown addicted to. And he is addicted; never doubt that.

Realistic and timely, "The Hurt Locker" may be one of the best movies you can see this year.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, one of a 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, further 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. A must-own if you are a war film fan.


About the Blu-ray disc itself:
The Hurt Locker is a 50GB Region A disc sporting an excellent transfer, but the extras are thin, with only a director's commentary, a 12 minute making-of documentary, and a 23 minute narrated slideshow. Subtitles are English (SDH) and Spanish only, with an additional Spanish audio track. Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio.

One of the year's best films, this follows a team of GIs in Iraq whose job is to defuse and/or detonate potential bombs. Incredibly taut and scary, particularly when you think about the fact that there are hundreds of soldiers still doing this same job right now.

As a side note - I was on a whale watch this week and started talking with the volunteer naturalist, Jason. He had just come back from two tours in Iraq, doing this exact job. He said that of 198 men in his outfit, 196 had been wounded. (Including himself - 90% deaf in one ear from an IED blast.) He also said that the outfit was now being re-deployed to Afghanistan. I asked him if he has seen 'The Hurt Locker' yet, and he hadn't; but a lot of his comrades had, and they all raved about it. That alone should be enough of an endorsement - see this movie!!!