"[80] Boal defended himself to the press, saying "the film is a work of fiction inspired by many people's stories. ", Her choice to film in the Kingdom met some resistance. The film follows an Iraq War Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who are targeted by insurgents, and shows their psychological reactions to the stress of combat, which is intolerable to some and addictive to others. The Hurt Locker was first publicly released in Italy by Warner Bros. on October 10, 2008. [39], The film was criticized by some Iraq veterans and embedded reporters for inaccurately portraying wartime conditions. Sanborn is distraught by the man's death. "If a bomb goes off, you're going to be in the hurt locker. The filmmakers tried to save Renner’s stamina by stunt doubling him in the bomb suit, but it was not to be. [38] Over its first weekend the film grossed $145,352, averaging $36,338 per theater. James attends sessions with the base therapist, but prefers to relieve stress by playing violent video games and knocking back alcohol. It's both outside of you and within you. But if you know anything about the Army, or about operations or life in Iraq, you'll be so distracted by the nonsensical sequences and plot twists that it will ruin the movie for you. [75] Other 2009 festivals included the Human Rights Nights International Film Festival,[76] the Seattle International Film Festival,[77] and the Philadelphia Film Festival.[78]. While the three members face their own internal issues, they have to be aware of any person at the bomb sites, some of whom may be bombers themselves. His team includes Sergeant J. T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge. We really looked out for each other, and it was a great experience. [22], Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times rated the film as the best of 2009, writing, "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." [91] The film won six awards at the BAFTAs held on February 21, 2010, including Best Film and Best Director for Bigelow. It certainly did for me." Please turn on JavaScript. James' team has a tense encounter with their leader, who reveals they are private military contractors and British mercenaries. "[57], Derek Elley of Variety found The Hurt Locker to be "gripping" as a thriller but felt that the film was weakened by, "its fuzzy (and hardly original) psychology." ", But this piece of military slang has given a title to a poem about the Iraq invasion as well. Impressed with cinematographer Barry Ackroyd's work on United 93 and The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Bigelow invited him to work on her film. Ebert considered Renner "a leading contender for Academy Awards", writing, "His performance is not built on complex speeches but on a visceral projection of who this man is and what he feels. The unit, led by Sgt. There was no traditional "villain", and tension was derived from the characters' internal conflicts and the suspense from the explosives and snipers. They have captured two prisoners featured on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. The following weekend, beginning July 3, the film grossed $131,202 at nine theaters, averaging $14,578 per theater. "[8], Several hundred thousand refugees of Iraq live in Jordan. [86] It is also thought that independent film distributors are trying to cut their losses on prints by recycling them. "Sadly people in America and Los Angeles have these perceptions", she said. The Hurt Locker was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards.[92]. It also ranked on more film critics' top 10 lists than any other film of 2009. [32] It was the closing night film at Maryland Film Festival 2009, with Bigelow presenting. Boal: “The air that’s moving away from the explosion is moving so quickly that it will expand anything that contains air within it. [81] Jody Simon, a Los Angeles-based entertainment lawyer, noted that "soldiers don't have privacy", and that when the military embedded Boal they gave him full permission to use his observations as he saw fit. Corliss wrote. After Bravo Company's rotation ends, James returns to his wife Connie and their infant son, who still lives with him in his house. [47], Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times rated the film as the best of 2009, writing, "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." By comparison with those films, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker arrived ‘under the radar’, much like the insurgent IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that her mismatched team of soldiers must dismantle if they are to make it through their tour of duty largely unscathed. [19], The Hurt Locker had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2008, and the film received a 10-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening. Elley wrote that it was unclear to know where the drama lay: "These guys get by on old-fashioned guts and instinct rather than sissy hardware—but it's not a pure men-under-stress drama either." It was a success against its budget of $15 million. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score, gav… Boal drew on his experience during embedded access to write the screenplay. [94] The Academy banned him from attending the award ceremony, the first time the Academy has ever banned an individual nominee. “I probably went through, I don’t know, ten, fifteen people trying to replicate Jeremy’s walk in the bomb suit… and the walk was such a signature of his character that even in the widest shot, that’s Jeremy walking. [53] Sarver claimed he originated the title of the film; however, the title is a decades-old colloquialism for being injured, as in "they sent him to the hurt locker. The five awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics were the most by that organization to a single film in the group's 30-year history. [79] The Hurt Locker was released in the United States on June 26, 2009, with a limited release at four theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. "[5] Bigelow was fascinated with exploring "the psychology behind the type of soldier who volunteers for this particular conflict and then, because of [their] aptitude, is chosen and given the opportunity to go into bomb disarmament and goes toward what everybody else is running from. James and Sanborn rescue him, but one of James' rounds hits Eldridge in the leg. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce, J.J. Kandel, and Ryan Tramont. Staff Sergeant William James, a soldier known for his ability to disarm bombs whilst under fire, joins his latest detail in Iraq and finds he is an unwelcome presence: his new teammates, Sergeant JT Sandborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, are mourning the loss of their previous commanding officer, Sergeant Matt Thompson, whose zen-like approach to bomb disposal is immediately contrasted by James who, comparatively, behaves like a bull in the proverbial china shop. So it will literally blow up your lungs or puncture anything that contains air. Enemy snipers kill three of the mercenaries, including their leader. "You know a bomb could go off at any minute, but you never know just when it's going to happen, so the ideas of [Alfred] Hitchcock—about making your audience anxious—were influential for us when we did the editing. That's a hurt-locker over there.". After the Super 16mm film was transferred to DVcam at a lab in London, the video dailies were transported by plane back to the Middle East to be imported into the editing system. 25. [4] Bigelow cast Renner based on his work in Dahmer, a film about Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer whose victims were boys. “I think of Evangeline Lilly as a really strong presence,” says Bigelow. Answer: It's a term similar to "a world of hurt".