The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Bryan Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly
Synopsis: In the summer of 2004, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) of Bravo Company are at the volatile centre 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.
A high-pressure, high-stakes assignment, the job leaves no room for mistakes, as they learn when they lose their team leader on a mission.
When Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) 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 goes on around them, the men struggle to understand and contain their new leader long enough for them to make it home.
They have only 38 days left in their tour of Iraq, but with each new mission comes another deadly encounter, and as James blurs the line between bravery and bravado, it was only a matter of time before disaster was around the corner and lives put needlessly on the line.
Critics: “The Hurt Locker is a truly an exciting piece of cinema and is one of the best movies of 2009 so far. A modern war classic we may have just uncovered the first real Oscar contender of the year.” - FemaleFirst
“I can't think of a recent film, not even Oliver Stone's Platoon, that has conveyed so vividly what it is to be a soldier today on a front line.” - Observer
“The Hurt Locker is an exciting and visceral work.” - Sunday Times
Award/Nominations: The Hurt Locker has been one of the major winner on the awards circuit so far this awards season with the national Board of review picking it as one of the best movies if the year and naming Jeremy Renner as the Breakthrough Actor.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named the movie as the best picture of 2009, and also chose Kathryn Bigelow as Best Director.
The movie also scooped five Boston Society of Film Critics awards, including Best Picture, and won another Best Picture award at San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Golden Globes