Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Hurt Locker

©2008 Summit Entertainment
The Hurt Locker (2008), starring Jeremy Renner.

[EDITED 16 March 2016]

The Hurt Locker won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The Director
Kathryn Bigelow (Oscar © Winner, Best Achievement in Directing)

The Writer 
Mark Boal (Oscar © Winner, Best Original Screenplay)

The Actors
Jeremy Renner (The Town), Anthony Mackie (Notorious), Brian Geraghty (Jarhead), Guy Pierce (Memento), Ralph Fiennes (the noseless one in the Harry Potter movies),  and Saint Elsewhere's David Morse.

The Story
Sergeant First Class William James (Renner) becomes team leader of an Army bomb squad in Iraq in 2004.  He breaks rules and constantly puts himself and his team at risk, and we often wonder when he is being noble and when he is merely being reckless.

Watching The Hurt Locker, I kept in mind the criticisms I had heard in 2009 (its year of release in the US) from some active and retired military, that real bomb squad personnel would not be, or be allowed to be, so reckless. However SFC James is presented as an anomaly from the beginning, so if we accept higher-up Colonel Reed (David Morse) as another anomaly (and pretend for two hours and change that there are no safeguards against such anomalies in our military), we're on our way to a willing suspension of our disbelief. From a movie-making perspective, though, the most likely reason for SFC James' atypical bravado is the same reason the CSIs on CBS all forgot they weren't detectives and chased down suspects and interrogated them: it was more exciting that way. The film is exciting, and well acted. The disputed accuracy of its portrayal of Army bomb squads notwithstanding, it also has the feel of reality, perhaps owing to the acting, directing, editing, and heck, maybe the sound work too.

Why You Should See It
You got the part about the six Oscars ©, right? If the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay don't do it for you, how about Best Editing, Sound and Sound Editing?

Why You Should Avoid It
You only watch comedies. You never read the paper because there might be a mention of someone getting hurt. You're afraid that if you see an Academy Award winning movie, you might hear a British accent, be forced to think, and find yourself using the word "film."


17 comments:

  1. Most movies of this genre takes liberties to make it more appealing to a mass market. I would hope our military takes better safeguards than what was portrayed in the movie. Similar to the Kurt Russell movie "Backdraft," which ticked off a firefighter neighbor of mine because "no self-respecting firefighter would go into a burning building to rescue a child with their jacket open and no breathing apparatus." I take oscar winning movies as movies that impressed a bunch of judges and move on, it is 90-120 minutes of escapism. Good review Glen. Cordially, Kate (http://kate.interrante.tripod.com)

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  2. I should probably see this movie, but am more tempted to watch Season of the Witch because I am a sucker for mystical gibbley goop.

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  3. Kate, don't you think it's interesting that Boal (writer) and Bigelow (director) take liberties for the sake of excitement in a movie about a character who takes liberties for the sake of excitement? Maybe that says we're all adrenaline junkies like SFC James.

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  4. To Anonymous 2:
    I'm afraid Season of the Witch offers only mystical gibbly-gob. If you want gibbly-goop, you'll have to look elsewhere.

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  5. Glen, it is all for entertaining the masses and nothing more. If they wanted to make a fair representation on what our miltary does then it would be called a documentary. it was a very good review though. Off to read your newest one. Kate

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  6. For those of us who saw this, are we banned from posting possible spoilers here?

    This movie was fairly entertaining with some decent action scenes, but not much of a story that ties together. Some sort of explanation for why the reckless solder acts the way he does would have helped. The characters behave unrealistically, and the physics of several situations has the realism of a Rambo movie. It is hard to belive this won Best Picture.

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  7. I wrote out this brilliant, flowing narrative response to this, and the internet ate it.
    I'm rather cheesed right now....

    However, suffice it to say that I love what you're doing, Glen. Keep it up, and good luck!

    Matt G.

    *PS, I play in orchestra with Lori and she directed me to this blog*

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  8. Thanks for posting this! If you've never seen Hurt Locker at a theatre, be sure to do so if you ever get the chance. The astounding sound design is meant for a big space and the sense of being surrounded by the bigness of it all somehow gave the urgency of the story line even more intimacy.

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  9. sf, I also disagree with the Best Picture award for Hurt Locker. The characters are a bit unrealistic. With all the military machismo and almost no female presence, I was surprised it was directed by a woman. I think she did a good job capturing one soldier's need for the adrenaline rush. Not best picture, though.

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  10. I've seen a few of Kathryn Bigelow's films (Near Dark, Blue Steel, Point Break, and Strange Days) and I avidly read about her career in movie mags at the time Strange Days came out. I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet though.

    Kathryn B. has created some amazing action sequences in her films, like the on-foot chase scene in Point Break and the hotel room breakout in Near Dark (where, supposedly, she was the 1st director to have a scene where a room is totally dark and then, after a shoot-out occurs, you see bright shafts of light streaking through the room where the bullets went through).

    Kathyrn is a very visual and technical director and some (many?) critics adore her vision and creativity. That's what I've gotten from all the movies mags I used to read. LOL

    In a way, her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker might actually be representing all that she has brought to the cinematic experience.

    By the way, I'm not 'anonymous'; I'm Jen. ;) You know me. I probably have a profile here, but I don't remember it and can't log in. LOL

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  11. Jen:
    Hey, you seemed to have logged in. :-) So you're the gibbly-goop connoisseur?
    I've seen Blue Steel and Strange Days but I don't think I've seen Near Dark or Point Break yet.

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  12. Kate,
    Do creators of fictional works have any responsibilities at all besides entertaining us?

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  13. Bonnie Jo D, it is interesting that you mention the excellent sound that can be experienced only in the theater. A recent article in Time magazine says that most of the academy voters saw this on DVD at the last moment before voting, but it still won Oscars for Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.

    I didn't know this was same director as "Point Break". Seems like very similar type of characters with risk taking junkies.

    I think the realistic feel of Hurt Locker is due to a hand-held (but non-shakey) look to the camera work, use of relatively unknown actors, and limited use of music. The film's weak character development does contribute to the realistic feel.

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  14. Glen, you must see Near Dark and Point Break! Vampires and surfers, respectively. Gore and romance in Near Dark and zen bromance/rivalry in Point Break. ;) That's a wink face, not a smiley face. ;)

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  15. Okay, Jen, I'll see them & let you know what I think.
    8-{|
    That's not me, that's a guy with glasses and a mustache.

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  16. Thanks for posting this! If you've never seen Hurt Locker at a theatre, be sure to do so if you ever get the chance. The astounding sound design is meant for a big space and the sense of being surrounded by the bigness of it all somehow gave the urgency of the story line even more intimacy.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Kate, don't you think it's interesting that Boal (writer) and Bigelow (director) take liberties for the sake of excitement in a movie about a character who takes liberties for the sake of excitement? Maybe that says we're all adrenaline junkies like SFC James.

    ReplyDelete