The Hurt Locker

***The Hurt Locker*** is 2008 American war thriller movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The movie is set in the Iraq War and is about an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. The movie was a major critical success. Many critics consider it the best movie of 2009 and one of the best films of the 2000s. The movie is part of the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

## Plot

It is the year 2004 during the Iraq War. Sergeant First Class William James replaces Matthew Thompson, who died from an improvised explosive device (IED). William leads an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team to disarm bombs and explosives. Sergeant J. T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge are also on the team. There are 38 days left on their job to disarm bombs.

James becomes friends with an Iraqi child called Beckham, who sells him DVDs. The other team members think that William is reckless with the bombs. Once, James goes back for his gloves near the bomb. Tension develops. Sanborn considers killing William with the explosives. The team meets British mercenaries and private military contractors. They have two prisoners. Together they are attacked. The prisoners try to escape but are shot.

At a warehouse, William finds a body of a boy. There is a bomb in the body. He thinks it is Beckham. The team evacuates the warehouse, but Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge dies in an explosion. He is a psychiatrist and friend of Eldridge. James tries to find the one responsible for the boy's death. His team splits up, and Eldridge is captured. Eldridge is rescued but shot in the leg. The next day, James meets Beckham but does not talk. Eldridge is taken to surgery and blames James. James and Sanborn have to disarm a bomb on a man two days later. James cannot rescue the man, and the man explodes with the bomb. Sanborn says he cannot stand it anymore and wants to go home to his family.

After the end of their rotation, James returns to his ex-wife Connie and his son. He is bored and prefers to disarm bombs. He starts another line of duty that is now 365 days.

## Cast

- Jeremy Renner as Sergeant First Class William James
- Anthony Mackie as Sergeant J. T. Sanborn
- Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldridge
- Guy Pearce as Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson
- Christian Camargo as Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge
- David Morse as Colonel Reed
- Ralph Fiennes as the leader of a Private Military Company unit
- Evangeline Lilly as Connie James
- Christopher Sayegh as Beckham
- Malcolm Barrett as Sergeant Foster
- Sam Spruell as Contractor Charlie
- Suhail Dabbach as a black-suit suicide bomber

## Reception

The movie had very positive reviews. It has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics found the movie to the gripping, intense and full of suspense. Roger Ebert rated it the best film of 2009 and second best movie of the decade. It made the top ten lists of many movie critics. Critics praised Jeremy Renner for his acting and Kathryn Bigelow as director. Veterans criticized that the movie was inaccurate in portraying the Army. The movie had nine nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards. It won the following six: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing. _The Hurt Locker_ was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards. Kathryn Bigelow won several awards for directing including a BAFTA Award, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, and Best Director Award from Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York' film critics groups.

## Infobox (film)

- **name**: The Hurt Locker
- **alt**: From above a flat and dry desert floor, a person in a green military uniform with heavy padding holds red wires attached to seven pill-shaped bomb canisters scattered around him. At the top of the poster are three critics' favorable opinions: "A near-perfect movie", "A full-tilt action picture", and "Ferociously suspenseful". Below the quotes is the title "THE HURT LOCKER" and the tagline, "You don't have to be a hero to do this job. But it helps."
- **caption**: Theatrical release poster
- **director**: Kathryn Bigelow
- **writer**: Mark Boal
- **cinematography**: Barry Ackroyd
- **distributor**: Summit Entertainment
- **runtime**: 131 minutes
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **budget**: $15 million
- **gross**: $49.2 million