The Hurt Locker
The 2010 Academy Award winner for Best Film, Director, Screenplay and Editing.
This war zone thriller follows three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad as they search for and disarm a series of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad.
The story, a look at the psychology of bomb technicians and the effects of risk and danger on the human psyche, is a fictional tale inspired by real events experienced by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who followed a special bomb unit in Iraq. The title refers to the soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to the 'hurt locker'.
Winner of 6 Academy Awards, 2010: Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing. Winner of 6 BAFTA Awards, 2010: Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Sound.
2008131 minsUSA
- Director:
- Kathryn Bigelow ('Point Break', 'K-19: The Widowmaker')
- Writer:
- Mark Boal
- Cast:
- Jeremy RennerAnthony MackieBrian GeraghtyGuy PearceRalph FiennesDavid MorseEvangeline Lilly
The Hurt Locker / Reviews
The New Yorker
The most skilful and emotionally involving film yet made about the (Iraq) conflict.
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Wall Street Journal
A showcase for austere technique, terse writing and a trio of brilliant performances.
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Los Angeles Times
Both the film about the war in Iraq that we've been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that's been long expected from director Kathryn Bigelow.
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The Washington Post
An exercise in pure cinema that tells its story using every visual, aural and sensory element the medium has to offer.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Bigelow's understanding of the psychological aspect of action... sets her apart.
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Daily Telegraph
Reveals more about the realities of contemporary military conflict than most documentaries.
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The Guardian
A blazingly powerful action movie... whose unpretentious clarity makes for a refreshing change.
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The Times
In its gutsy, bare-bones beauty, The Hurt Locker is not simply a war movie. It is war poetry.
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Sight & Sound
There is something original and distinctive about the film's willingness to admit that for some men (and many moviegoers) war carries an intrinsic dramatic charge.
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The Age
An intense, thoughtful film, politically nuanced but without obvious ideological underpinnings.
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Variety
Boal's script stirs a little of everything into the pot, which boils down into seven setpieces divided by brief intervals of camaraderie/conflict among the three protags.
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Total Film
Bigelow makes a welcome return with a thrilling, edgy and, yes, explosive film about the toughest job in the world. What’s The Hurt Locker? Something special.
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The New York Times
The best nondocumentary American feature made yet about the war in Iraq.
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Hollywood Reporter
Tensely action-packed and muscularly directed by Kathryn Bigelow, this tale of an elite U.S. army bomb disposal unit in Baghdad is a familiar story in new clothes, targeted at the young male demographic.
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Empire Magazine
The most literally exciting film you will see this year. Forget the off-putting banner of another Iraq movie -- go, watch, marvel, endure and book in the palliative of a stiff drink afterwards.
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Chicago Sun-Times
A great film, an intelligent film, a film shot clearly so that we know exactly who everybody is and where they are and what they’re doing and why.
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