The Hurt Locker (2009)

My Review

The Best Picture of 2009 is…..”The Hurt Locker.” This film follows a bomb disposal team of three soldiers in the Iraq War who are targeted by insurgents, clearly displaying their psychological reactions to the stress of combat. Mark Boal drew upon experiences during embedded access to write the screenplay. Director Kathryn Bigelow (“Point Break” 1991) put together a film with the highest of production values, great cinematography, marvelous writing producing a good flow for a 130 running time, and memorable performances.

The cast is headed by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty, who brilliantly portray the members of the U. S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. Co-stars include Evangeline Lilly, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce, Christian Camargo, Malcolm Barrett, Christopher Sayegh, Sam Spruell, and Suhail Dabbach, an Iraqi refugee who played a regret-filled suicide bomber at the end of the movie.

The very watchable and remarkable film “The Hurt Locker” was popular at the box office for producers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, Voltage Pictures, Grosvenor Park Productions, Kingsgate Films, and Summit Entertainment. It was filmed primarily in and around Amman, Jordan.

“The Hurt Locker” was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning six: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. Non-winners include Best Actor (Renner), Best Cinematography (Barry Ackroyd), and Best Original Score (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders). Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director.