In Iraq, an elite U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit is forced to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the chaos of war in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb. Jeremy Renner plays the leader of the EOD team, as he contends with not only defusing bombs in the backdrop of a war, but also the psychological and emotional strain that inflicts.
by Szymon
on 06/11/2009 2 of 4 people found this review helpful
What I loved most: Characters who die without delay.
What I really hated: Everybody else.
The movie starts off quite well.
The opening scene - and the first guy goes boom! Nice and fast. The very first scene! See what I mean? It gives you such a promise of an enjoyable, meaningful movie. With lots and lots of fun explosions and flying body parts. But no. It was quickly followed by nothing. Some more nothing.
Oh wait! There was something. Bad... no, EVIL looking Arabs. They are so threatening, the way they walk, dress and talk deserves nothing less than another invasion. They look at americans with an evil eye. Yuck. Some of them even say "Hello". One of the occupant soldiers says "Hello" back. Truth is, he could have shot the native. Most people in most movies would, even if they are not american. But nooooo... He had to show how nice he is. Like I care. News services showed us that wars are pure fun, so kill and entertain us for crying out loud!
Still... I should give them credit when it's due. That "Hello" was the most... no, the ONLY memorable line of the entire movie. Other dialogues involved people calling on the phone - and not talking. More and more of nothing. Flies. Pest. Drunk yanks. Later the movie gets good for a moment. Ralf Fiennes makes it happen. He goes 'pop' better than a weasel - and without any unnecessary delay!
Soon after - some more of nothing. Yanks try to shoot back, but cant snipe for sour apples. They aim that gun until the goats come home (it is Iraq after all) and my behind gets hurt. The chairs are comfortable, but who can last so long in one position with nothing to do?
So they aim the gun and cannot thing about anything. The sun goes down. That was the second best moment of the movie, because i dozed off. I was dreaming of m girlfriend going down. When i woke up the were still aiming the gun. I waited politely until the end of the show. I was waiting to see the hurt locker.
Guess what? Not even a regular one was shown. What a disaster.
I want my money back.
More "Jarhead" than "Black Hawk Down", less-than-industrious female director Kathryn Bigelow returns with a technically accomplished, frighteningly realistic and morally challenging war movie called "The Hurt Locker". Devoid of all the in-your-face drama and intrusive music that war movies so often shoot down your throat, this compact adventure about a self-conflicted Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit with the U.S. Army's Bravo Company is a festival favourite that can win over commercial audiences if only given the chance.
We are led to Iraq to follow headstrong Sergeant First Class William James (a composed leading performance by Jeremy Renner) whose passion for bomb diffusion goes beyond the call for duty. The man doesn't even care that the previous soldier in his position (Guy Pearce) was killed in similar operations but his subordinates certainly don't take kindly to this maverick manoeuvres. The 'safety-first' Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and the nervous Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) form a bond with him but war and death mean different things to each of them. As they go on more and more daily operations involving the disarming of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), we are brought uncomfortably close to the action and learn to see what life is like as a soldier.
"The Hurt Locker" goes for impact both in terms of physical bombs and human drama - but not in the conventional ways we are often served with in recent films. The explosions are dusty and powerful (obliging a slow-mo scene every now and then) and the characters are complex but their actions, singular. They don't need to talk about what they're doing or why they're doing it - they just do it. This gives the audience a lot of time to think and contributes towards the appeal of the movie.
Reportedly, producer James Cameron said this about his ex-wife's film: "I think this could be the Platoon (1986) for the Iraq War." The movie is from an acclaimed source material - best-selling 2002 novel 'War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning' by a New York Times war correspondent. It even opens with a quote card from it - the rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug. You won't hear many complaints about this neat effort, unless you're sorry Evangeline Lilly from TV's "Lost" only gets about five minutes of screen time.
