Movie Review – The Hurt Locker – Riveting!

The Hurt Locker

In the summer of 2004, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge 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.

I’ve been meaning to catch this one for a while, when the Oscar nominations come out I like to try and watch all the films mentioned if I haven’t already – especially those with multiple nominations. Eyeris has a good round up here – Oscar Noms! I Hope Avatar doesn’t nom nom everything – I’ve caught most of them but not all.

This movie surprised some people by going head to head with the 2009 blockbuster Avatar at the Oscars, both The Hurt Locker and Avatar have received 9 Oscar nominations each.

The funny part? The Hurt Locker is directed by Kathryn Bigelow who happens to be James Cameron’s ex-wife and also the director of Avatar! Strangely enough however I still haven’t watched Avatar.

Anyway more about the movie, simple speaking it’s GOOD..very good indeed as indicated by it’s 8.4 score on IMDB (not that I trust IMDB as much as I used to). I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t climb into the Top 250 at some point.

The best description I’ve heard is a disturbingly close and claustrophobic look at the strains of disabling bombs in Iraq. That’s exactly what it is.

It’s reminiscent somewhat of The Kingdom which pales in comparison to this, Syriana had a similar topic too but was a different kind of film completely and Rendition which is in the same area of subject matter but about something different again.

The cocky swagger and gungho attitude of Jeremy Renner as SSG William James somehow reminds me of Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man and he truly deserves the Oscar nomination he’s received.

The film itself is very gritty, very intense and very in your face. In some aspects it reminds me of Jarhead as that too is very claustrophobic, intense and personal.

This movie is less about action and more about humans, why they do what they do and how they can keep doing it. What drives some people? Why they may seem crazy to us but their actions to them are perfectly justified.

It’s an exquisitely shot and directed movie and I never found myself confused, wondering why they did that or feeling sleepy once.

There’s been a lot of complaints from Iraq vets and other combat type fellas that the movie is full of technical inaccuracies and the whole thing in bogus. Honestly do I give a shit? NO..it’s a freaking movie not a documentary. I always wonder where people get off slating a movie because it’s not historically/technically/etc perfect, it’s supposed to be fantasy that’s the whole point of movies.

That aside I think it’s a great film and if you haven’t watched it you should!

I give it a Baghdad bombing 9/10.

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11 Responses to Movie Review – The Hurt Locker – Riveting!

  1. KY February 24, 2010 at 4:58 pm #

    sounds good, must copy/borrow!

  2. hanuman February 26, 2010 at 3:22 pm #

    A must see movie. Great cinematography, great story line, great character and great dialogue. At first I was expecting a flub Hollywood wanabe action war propagand … but was very entertained during the entire movie which bring a touch of reality (technically war accurate or not) of human existence .. GO WATCH IT!!

  3. Matthew February 27, 2010 at 4:24 pm #

    I loved the 3 shows you mentioned(The Kingdom, Rendition and Syriana)! Not many people will like Syriana though, some may find it boring. I’ve not watched Avatar too and somehow there isn’t the great urge to watch it, I think it’s over-rated.

    It seems Hurt Locker was released in Malaysia albeit for a very short period only and I missed it! I think I’m going to erm… *cough* download *cough* it.

    As for now looking forward to Book of Eli and From Paris with Love even though this 2 didn’t do well on Rotten Tomatoes or MetaCritic. Can’t wait for Shutter Island too.

  4. takeshi February 27, 2010 at 7:32 pm #

    The only surprise here is that you’ve only JUST watched it?

    Glad that you enjoyed it. I did too.

  5. SamuelGoh February 28, 2010 at 4:36 pm #

    I’ve never heard of it! (outdated I know), but based on your review maybe I will 🙂

    btw, why Baghdad bombing?! just curious

  6. Joshua February 28, 2010 at 10:06 pm #

    This is the ONLY movie ,and i repeat ONLY movie i evahhh watched twice in the span of 12 hours. Heck i don’t even watch other movies again in my entire lifetime. this is must watch movie, very intense,makes u feel like you’re in Iraq. hope they win some in Oscars. =)

  7. ShaolinTiger March 1, 2010 at 4:49 pm #

    KY: Haha yah can no probs.

    hanuman: Totally agree, wasn’t expecting such a compelling movie either – it quite surprised me.

    Matthew: Yah they are all good movies in different ways and agree Syriana would be too slow and political for most people. I suggest watching Avatar in 3D, it’s a beautiful experience – not a great movie but worth it for the visual feast. Looking forwards to those two movies as well, Travolta rocks!

    takeshi: I only just watched Avatar last week too, I take my own sweet time 🙂

    Samuel Goh: Definitely worth a watch. The movie is about bomb disposal in Bagdhad.

    Joshua: Wow, quite an accolade.

  8. Matthew March 8, 2010 at 6:20 pm #

    The Hurt Locker grabbed the Best Picture award!

  9. ShaolinTiger March 9, 2010 at 4:25 pm #

    Matthew: As predicted 😀

 
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