The Hurt Locker

Director: Kathryn Bigelow 131 minutes. Rated: R

Film Synopsis

A SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT PRESENTATION

Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow brings together groundbreaking realistic action and intimate human drama in this riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military’s unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives doing one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. 

In the summer of 2004, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) of Bravo Company are at the volatile center of the war, part of a small counterforce specifically trained to handle the homemade bombs that account for more than half of American hostile deaths and have killed thousands of Iraqis.  The job requires a calm intelligence that leaves no room for mistakes, as they learn when they lose their team leader on a routine mission.  When Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) cheerfully takes over the team, Sanborn and Eldridge are shocked by what seems like his reckless disregard for military protocol and basic safety measures.  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 craft to high-wire precision?   They have only 38 days left in their tour, but with each new mission comes another deadly encounter, and as James blurs the line between bravery and bravado, it seems only a matter of time before disaster strikes.

The Hurt Locker is both a gripping portrayal of real-life sacrifice and heroism, and a layered, probing study of the soul-numbing rigors and potent allure of the modern battlefield.

THE HURT LOCKER has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture

“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 been long expected from director Kathryn Bigelow.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times