Hurt Locker (2009) - Oscar ® Winner!

"If there are moviegoers who are exhausted by the current fashion for relentless fantasy violence, this is the convincingly blunt and forceful movie for them.  David Denby, 100The New Yorker
"...an intense, action-driven war pic, a muscular, efficient standout that simultaneously conveys the feeling of combat from within as well as what it looks like on the ground.  Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"A near-perfect movie about men in war, men at work. Through sturdy imagery and violent action, it says that even Hell needs heroes.  Richard Corliss, Time

Editor's Note 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.

	Guy Pearce
	Anthony Mackie
	Bryan Geraghty
	Evangeline Lilly
	David Morse
	Ralph Fiennes
	Jeremy Renner
	Mark Boal - Screenwriter
	Kathryn Bigelow - Producer
	Mark Boal - Producer
	Nicolas Chartier - Producer
	Greg Shapiro - Producer
	Tony Mark - Executive Producer
	Barry Ackroyd - Director of Photography
	Marco Beltrami - Composer
	Buck Sanders - Composer
	Kathryn Bigelow - Director

Movieline
"[I]t's politically loaded stuff, too, but Bigelow's in the thriller business, and therein rests LOCKER's greatest appeal....Propulsive, crisply edited, literally explosive..." 06/22/2009

Box Office
4 stars out of 5 -- "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." 06/26/2009

Los Angeles Times
"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." 06/26/2009

A.V. Club
"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." -- Grade: A- 06/25/2009

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "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." 07/09/2009

USA Today
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "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." 06/26/2009

Chicago Sun-Times
4 stars out of 4 -- "[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." 07/08/2009

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[N]ot 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." 07/23/2009

Entertainment Weekly
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." 12/25/2009

Los Angeles Times
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." 12/20/2009

Rolling Stone
Ranked #3 in Rolling Stone's "The 10 Best Movies Of 2009" -- "[T]he directing tour de force of the year..." 12/24/2009

USA Today
Ranked #1 in USA Today's "Top Ten Films Of 2009." 12/31/2009

Uncut
5 stars out of 5 -- "[O]ne of the great American films of the decade, certainly the best American movie since THERE WILL BE BLOOD, shocking, overwhelming and unforgettable." 08/24/2009

ReelViews 9 of 10
War is hell. It's a cliche, but not one that Hollywood often embraces. There are exceptions, of course, like Oliver Stone's Platoon, which takes no prisoners in depicting war as the gruesome, dehumanizing business it is. But Platoon and other films cut from the same cloth are more dramas than thrillers. The question is whether it's possible to generate white-knuckle, grip-the-edge-of-the-seat tension in a war movie without turning it into a glorification of violence and bloodshed. Director Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron's ex and the filmmaker behind Point Break and Strange Days, answers this question with a definitive, uncompromising "yes!" On a weekend when the effects-choked Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen staggers into theaters like a stoned 800-pound gorilla and threatens to put audiences to sleep with its brand of deadly dull "action," The Hurt Locker is the film to see for those seeking an elevated pulse. It's 20 minutes shorter and about three times more exciting...To these men, tactical objectives are irrelevant. It's all about counting down the days until the tour of duty is over. The insurgents are one enemy; with them, it's kill or be killed. The other enemy is the explosive devices, and they are even less forgiving. In a way, this movie reminded me of the old British TV mini-series, Danger UXB, in the way it depicts the struggle between man and bomb. One wrong move, and there's no chance to try again. The movie was picked up at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival by Summit Entertainment for United States distribution, and it has taken nine months for it to finally reach theaters. There's no questioning it's worth the wait. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
A lot of movies begin with poetic quotations, but The Hurt Locker opens with a statement presented as fact: "War is a drug." Not for everyone, of course. Most combat troops want to get it over with and go home. But the hero of this film, Staff Sgt. William James, who has a terrifyingly dangerous job, addresses it like a daily pleasure. Under enemy fire in Iraq, he defuses bombs...He isn't an action hero, he's a specialist, like a surgeon who focuses on one part of the body over and over, day after day, until he could continue if the lights went out. James is a man who understands bombs inside out and has an almost psychic understanding of the minds of the bombers. This is all the more remarkable because in certain scenes, it seems fairly certain that the bomb maker is standing in full view -- on a balcony or in a window overlooking the street, say, and is as curious about his bomb as James is. Two professionals, working against each other...Certainly James behaves recklessly at times, even in his use of protective clothing. He takes risks boldly. But in the actual task of defusing a bomb, he is as careful as if he were operating on his own heart. Bigelow uses no phony suspense-generating mechanisms in this film. No false alarms. No gung ho. It is about personalities in terrible danger. The suspense is real, and it is earned. Hitchcock said when there's a bomb under a table, and it explodes, that's action. When we know the bomb is there, and the people at the table play cards, and it doesn't explode, that's suspense...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. The camera work is at the service of the story. Bigelow knows that you can't build suspense with shots lasting one or two seconds. And you can't tell a story that way, either -- not one that deals with the mystery of why a man like James seems to depend on risking his life. A leading contender for Academy Awards. - Roger Ebert