The Hurt Locker
- Release Date
- October 10, 2008
- Director
- Kathryn Bigelow
- Cast
- Jeremy Renner , Anthony Mackie , Brian Geraghty , Guy Pearce , Ralph Fiennes , David Morse
- Runtime
- 105
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Writers
- Mark Boal
- Tagline
- You don't have to be a hero to do this job. But it helps.
- Website
- http://thehurtlocker-movie.com/
Summary
"The Hurt Locker," winner of the 2008 Venice Film Festival SIGNIS Grand Prize, is a riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military’s unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives in one of the world’s most dangerous places. Three members of the Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and each other as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad—in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear—protect and save—but it’s anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the effects of combat and danger on the human psyche is based on the first-hand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. These men spoke of explosions as putting you in “the hurt locker. Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow brings together groundbreaking realistic action and intimate human drama in a landmark 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," story). Barry Ackroyd, BSC ("United 93," "The Wind That Shakes the Barley") is director of photography. Production designer is Karl Juliusson ("K19: The Widowmaker," "Breaking the Waves"). Editors are Bob Murawski ("Spider-Man 2," "Spider-Man 3") and Chris Innis. Costume designer is George Little ("Jarhead," "Crimson Tide"). Music is by Academy Award Nominee Marco Beltrami ("Knowing") and Buck Sanders ("3:10 to Yuma"), and sound design by Academy Award Nominee Paul N.J. Ottosson ("Spider-Man 2," "Spider-Man 3"). In the summer of 2004, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) of Bravo Company are at the volatile center of the war, part of a small counterforce specifically trained to handle the homemade bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), that account for more than half of American hostile deaths and have killed thousands of Iraqis. The job, a high-pressure, high-stakes assignment, which soldiers volunteer for, requires a calm intelligence that leaves no room for mistakes, as they learn when they lose their team leader on a routine mission. When Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) cheerfully takes over the team, Sanborn and Eldridge are shocked by what seems like his reckless disregard for military protocol and basic safety measures. And yet, in the fog of war, appearances are never reliable for long. Is James really a swaggering cowboy who lives for peak experiences and the moments when the margin of error is zero – or is he a consummate professional who has honed his esoteric craft to high-wire precision? As the fiery chaos of Baghdad threatens to engulf them, the men struggle to understand and contain their mercurial new leader long enough for them to make it home. They have only 38 days left in their tour, but with each new mission comes another deadly encounter, and as James blurs the line between bravery and bravado, it seems only a matter of time before disaster strikes. With a visual and emotional intensity that makes audiences feel like they have been transported to Iraq’s dizzying, 24-hour turmoil, The Hurt Locker is both a gripping portrayal of real-life sacrifice and heroism, and a layered, probing study of the soul-numbing rigors and potent allure of the modern battlefield.
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