I Fell in Love with "The Hurt Locker" and You Should Too! The Best Movie of the Summer!
I'm exploding with joy to tell you that "The Hurt Locker" is definitely the best movie of the summer, and is a contender to be one of the best of the year!
Written by Mark Boal (pictured on left) and directed by Katherine Bigelow (pictured on right), the film made its debut at the Venice Film Festival last year, and didn't make its way to the US until March 2009 at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
(From L to R: Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty)
"The Hurt Locker" tells the story of an elite Army bomb squad in Iraq and the highly-combustible game they play against potential enemies. And those enemies can also be the war raging within each characters.
Anthony Mackie ("We Are Marshall," "Million Dollar Baby") stars as the by-the-books Sergeant JT Sanborn. All he wants is to get out of Iraq.
Brian Geraghty ("Bobby," "The Guardian") stars as Specialist Owen Eldridge who is also counting the days before their squadron leaves Iraq. But making their lives difficult is Jeremy Renner's Staff Sergeant William James, a newly assigned team leader with a gung-ho John Wayne attitude.
It is the intricacies between these characters that drive "The Hurt Locker" home to its jaw-dropping ending. The finale doesn't end with physical explosions, although there are many of those nerve-wracking sequences, but by internal character combustion that makes one wonder: what kind of soldiers do we breed?
Renner gives a pitch-perfect performance as the team leader who may, or may not lead his squad to danger. His eyes glimmer with excitement every time the crew gets a bomb call.
Boal, an embedded journalist in Iraq in 2004 and a Playboy contributor (he was credited with the story of "In the Valley of Elah") created rich characters facing incredible situations. The narrative flows, and grips you with alarming authenticity.
But this love letter is dedicated to director Bigelow, yes, the same lady who turned Jamie Lee Curtis into a tough-as-nails cop in 1989's "Blue Steel" and made Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze bond in 1991's "Point Break."
"The Hurt Locker's" intense, captivating mood and atmosphere is largely because of Bigelow. I've heard other critics shout with glee that a woman, yes a woman! can direct an action-packed Iraq war flick! I say phooey to that -- a movie talking about the effects of war knows no gender! So hurray that a woman can direct a film as thought-provoking, smart, and entertaining as "The Hurt Locker."
No, the film is not preachy in the war-is-bad category, but it does showcase the effects, some good, some bad, of the war in Iraq.
"The Hurt Locker" is the best Iraq war movie period, the best action film of 2009, and it's definitely high up there on my Best of Summer 2009 list!
"The Hurt Locker" gets my highest honor, 4 kisses!
The film is in limited release right now, but check the official website to see if it's playing in theaters near you. Click here to find out!
Oh yeah, and I'm loving that Summit Entertainment, the home of "Twilight," released this film! After a so-so sci-fi actioner ("Push"), a so-so sci-fi drama ("Knowing"), I'm glad the studio is putting its efforts behind "The Hurt Locker."
And one final note, check the important cameos by Guy Pearce, David Morse, and Mister Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes.
And watch "The Hurt Locker's" trailer below.
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