Gotham winner THE HURT LOCKER reviewed by Tim Raynor on Blu-ray

You'll know when you're in it.

You don't have to be a hero to do this job.
But it helps.

THE MOST HONORED MOVIE OF THE YEAR...

This thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) travels to Baghdad with a U.S. military bomb detonating unit. THE HURT LOCKER stars Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce, and Ralph Fiennes.

THE HURT LOCKER — Explore further:
—> Blu-ray Review by Tim David Raynor »
EXCERPT: There's nothing quite like an intriguing war film to make you realize you have things just fine sitting at a distance and viewing the true horrors of war. Well, at least you can get a perspective that adds no harm to you physically. After sitting through the nail-biter "The Hurt Locker," I quickly went to my list of careers I would never pursue and added "military bomb squad" to it. To me, any movie that can be equally effective at sinking you into the narrative, keeping you at the edge of your seat, and providing at least a few nightmares afterward does its job pretty well. Director Kathryn Bigelow certainly adheres to telling us a unique story that is not often explored in war films. I mean, seriously, how many war films stand out in your mind that deal exclusively with working in a bomb squad?

Throughout the film, we see directly the challenges these men face on a daily basis and the unease we feel as an audience member waiting for a bomb to explode at any given moment. Not only do we deal with bombs, we also experience the dilemma of one being targeted constantly by terrorist enemies. A scene in particular deals with a couple of snipers in the middle of the desert, and it is quite moving and intense. As I mentioned, it's very effective at keeping you on pins and needles for the entire ride. Bigelow delivers a narrative that shows us the culture of soldiers fighting in Iraq and the emotional challenges they face just to stay alive. What director Bigelow makes us take away from this film is an understanding of who we really are inside.

The overall pacing of "The Hurt Locker" feels quite somber in tone, but it is a mild tempo that actually keeps you nerve-racked. At any moment an explosive surprise can happen, and, yes, there are undoubtedly times you see it coming. Granted, the film is not without its predictability, but for viewing it your first time through, it's certain to keep you on the edge of your seat. The style and look of the film feel quite familiar in tone, but the narrative explores avenues less touched upon. It is an interesting and riveting look at a particular side of war, one that offers plenty of food for thought.

In my list of films for 2009, I would place "The Hurt Locker" at number four. I enjoyed it for its unique perspective and the impact it offers in its character study. It unquestionably shows us a side of the Iraq war that has never really been addressed in a movie, much less keeping American's distant from showing us the true horrors of it on television. It is a film that is well directed and well crafted, easily one of the better films of 2009. In the perspective of films I have seen that deal with the war in Iraq, I'd say "The Hurt Locker" comes out on top.

(Click thru the Link above for the full review)

Note: the film's title is slang for being injured in an explosion, as in 'they sent him to the hurt locker'.

—> Visit the film's Official Site »
(from Summit Entertainment)

The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It is one of the most acclaimed films of 2009, earning awards and honors from numerous organizations, festivals and groups, including nine Academy Award nominations. The film follows a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War.

The story was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded with a bomb squad. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty as members of a U.S. Army EOD unit in Iraq and follows their tour together as they contend with defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency, and the tension that develops among them.

The film was shot in the Middle East, specifically in Jordan, within miles of the Iraq border. It was first released theatrically in Italy in 2008. It was then released in the United States on June 26, 2009, in New York and Los Angeles. Based on the success of its limited run, the independent film received a more widespread theatrical release in the United States on July 24, 2009. The film had initially premiered at the Venice Film Festival in late 2008, then at the Toronto International Film Festival in North America, where it was picked up for distribution in the United States by Summit Entertainment.
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Original Press Release...

Los Angeles (December 1, 2009) — Summit Entertainment has announced the January 12, 2010 DVD release of THE HURT LOCKER, an intense war film filled with non-stop, groundbreaking realistic action. The Best Feature Film winner at the Gotham Independent Film Awards is a leading contender for a number of Golden Globes and Academy Awards.

Director Kathryn Bigelow created this gripping film starring Jeremy Renner ("Dahmer," "The Assassination of Jesse James"), Anthony Mackie ("Half Nelson," "We Are Marshall") and Brian Geraghty ("We Are Marshall", "Jarhead"), with cameo appearances by Ralph Fiennes ("The Reader"), David Morse ("John Adams"), Evangeline Lilly ("Lost") and Guy Pearce ("Memento"). "The Hurt Locker" is produced by Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Greg Shapiro and Nicolas Chartier. The screenplay is written by Mark Boal ("In the Valley of Elah").

"The Hurt Locker" is an "adrenaline soaked tour-de force of suspense and surprise", (New York Times) that "redefines war film electricity" (Baltimore Sun) and transports audiences to the dizzying 24-hour turmoil of an elite bomb squad struggling to survive Baghdad's urban combat zone. A powerful, nerve-shredding, and "spellbinding film" (Chicago Sun Times), "The Hurt Locker" is "an instant classic" (Wall Street Journal) "that takes on the dimensions of a mediation on war and human nature." Audiences and critics across the nation are praising this epic as one of the most remarkable war movies ever made. "The Hurt Locker" is "about Iraq in the way that "Full Metal Jacket" is about Vietnam, and "Paths of Glory" is about World War II. It is a great movie, period." (Washington Post).

Rated R for war violence and language

Synopsis
You'll know when you're in it.
You don't have to be a hero to do this job.
But it helps.
War is a drug. Nobody knows that better than Staff Sergeant James, head of elite squad of soldiers tasked with disarming bombs in the heat of combat. To do this nerve-shredding job, it's not enough to be the best: you have to thrive in a zone where the margin of error is zero, think as diabolically as a bomb-maker, and somehow survive with your body and soul intact. Powerfully realistic, action-packed, unrelenting and intense, The Hurt Locker has been hailed by critics as "an adrenaline-soaked tour de force" (A.O. Scott, The New York Times) and "one of the great war movies." (Richard Corliss, Time)

"It's politically loaded stuff, too, but Bigelow's in the thriller business, and therein rests LOCKER's greatest appeal... Propulsive, crisply edited, literally explosive."
-Zinat S., Movieline

"With its meaty, intelligent story and a plethora of violent pyrotechnics, it is the rare kind of movie that has plenty to appeal to fans of action and drama alike."
-Pam Grady, Box Office

"Overwhelmingly tense, overflowing with crackling verisimilitude, it's both the film about the war in Iraq that we've been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that's long been expected from director Kathryn Bigelow."
-Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

"Bigelow has always thrived on graphic intensity, and in the early going especially, she suggests the psychological toll on Renner, Mackie, and Geraghty one aggravating mission at a time."
-Scott Tobias, A.V. Club

"The dazzling virtuosity of her ticking-bomb thriller includes staying alert to what's ticking inside the men... Bigelow builds a combustible drama that shakes you in ways you don't see coming."
-Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Skillfully directed by Kathryn Bigelow, LOCKER is both a psychological portrait and an exciting action film. It captures the complexities of the war in Iraq with visceral suspense as well as explosive sequences and powerful performances."
-Claudia Puig, USA Today

"A spellbinding war film... THE HURT LOCKER is 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."
-Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Not since the opening of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN has a war movie made you feel so much part of the battle, the time writer Mark Boal spent embedded creaking into every edge-of-the-seat scene."
-Jonathan Dean, Total Film

Included in Entertainment Weekly's "The Best Films Of The Year" -- "THE HURT LOCKER blows away out-dated movie depictions of bravery and obsession, risk and responsibility."
-Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Included in Los Angeles Times's "Best Films Of 2009" -- "Kathryn Bigelow's tightly wound drama of military bomb squads in modern desert wars was brilliantly executed."
-Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

"One of the great American films of the decade, certainly the best American movie since THERE WILL BE BLOOD, shocking, overwhelming and unforgettable."
-Allan Jones, Uncut

Ranked #3 in Rolling Stone's "The 10 Best Movies Of 2009" -- "The directing tour de force of the year..."
-Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Ranked #1 in USA Today's "Top Ten Films Of 2009."-USA Today