The Hurt Locker

[gwynplaine]

I still have to see this movie. Jeremy Renner is the man. He was a very believable and creepy Dahmer.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Renner was awesome in The Unusuals too, too bad they cancelled it though. He was very likeable in 28 Weeks Later too. And showed chops playing a *****ebag in North Country

 

[gwynplaine]

Yeah, he was also great in "The assassination of Jesse James...", even in S.W.A.T, He is a powerful actor.
If Mel doesn't return to Mad Max, he could be an interesting replacement as rumoured. (even though I'm still rooting for Bana.)

 

[Nivek]

Yeah, I see Bana being a better Max in a remake than Renner (unless it's based in the states). And he's a fan too.

 

[gwynplaine]

Yeah, I see Bana being a better Max in a remake than Renner (unless it's based in the states). And he's a fan too.

Cool.

 

[Kargo Warrior]

Another (over)hyped movie that falls short of it's hype...

It's a very good movie,but it's lack of momentum,pacing and story are very obvious towards the end.

It's nothing we haven't seen before,both story and performance wise.

If i saw the movie without the ''OMG it's the movie of the decade'' hyperbole i probably would have enjoyed it more...this way i was hoping for a great movie all the way through the end...sadly it didn't arrive.

 

[Sarge 2.0]

Instead of making vague throwaway comments in order to drive home your assertion that the film is "over-hyped", would you care to y'know, actually back up those comments with something of substance? Y'know, by talking about specific things in the movie?

It would be nice to see some evidence of critical thought here, but you're simply showing that you didn't engage yourself with the films ideas sufficiently, either because you missed them entirely or you didn't quite understand them. Your complaints about the films narrative are totally wrongheaded, and your statement that it's "nothing we haven't seen before" is so pat that it exposes the emptiness of your attempt to be the hype-deflating "tells it like it is" voice of reason.

And I'm going to do something I normally would never do, but I submit that anyone who doesn't see the greatness of Jeremy Renner's performance doesn't appreciates the nuances of truly great, multidimensional acting; perhaps because blustery Oscar-bait "powerful" acting like Sean Penn's performance in Mystic River is your point of comparison since it's what you're conditioned to believe is "great acting".

For the record, Sean Penn is a great actor, but his performance in Mystic River was awful.

 

[Kargo Warrior]

Who the hell do you think you are?Do you really think i need to explain myself to you?

You're arrogance and pretentiousness have no limits...every time you disagree with someone,they're wrong....well...i don't give a rats ass whether you thought it was brilliant or not.

You can simply go and write all that affection in your 10.000 essays that no one reads.

I didn't love the movie,end of discussion.

 

[CELTICPRED]

What happened to the guy who triggered the bomb from the opening sequence? Did they shoot him, did he escape, what? I know it's irrelevant, but it was a niggling detail.

Are you talking about Pearce, or the guy who triggered the bomb?

 

[nite-owl]

Who said this was the movie of the decade?

 

[The Guard]

I have to agree that, as much as it was "hyped" (wasn't hyped much), the film was definitely "overhyped" a bit by the relatively small number of people who have seen it and embraced it. It's not the best war movie ever made, and it's not THAT good. It's a good film, to be sure. But it's not that real ambitious in its exploration of concepts and its story, and it's not that deep, and it's not that amazing, really. It's just a very well made picture about a particular subject, and that's okay. We need more of those.

Renner was very good in his role, as was pretty much everyone else. There really wasn't a standout, though Renner had the most screentime and the most interesting character. There were definitely some subtleties and nuances to his performance. It's nice to see a performance that isn't so measured, where the actor restrains themselves a bit. But is it Oscar caliber? Not really. I don't really feel this is a performance that a large number of people couldn't have given. It's just not that difficult a role, beyond maybe wearing that bombsuit so much.

Are you talking about Pearce, or the guy who triggered the bomb?

The guy who triggered the bomb. The one the supporting character didn't shoot.

 

[CELTICPRED]

I'd think he'd escaped, they were all busy with the explosion.

 

[Watson]

Renner is very good, as is the supporting cast...but Best Actor? I don't think so. He's good, but while his character is intriguing, he doesn't do anything really spectacular as an actor in this movie. And I'm not sure there'd be much point to a sequel.

Ha, there definitely shouldn't nor could there be a sequel. I just felt so engaged with the film and the characters that it was disappointing when it ended. Naturally, I just wanted to know more about there lives.

 

[The Guard]

"Another Hurt Locker"

Or

"The Hurt L2cker".

 

[Evil Twin]

I disagree in assessing the ambitions of the movie. This was a really ambitious movie in that it didn't reduce the universality of war into political slogans. Or "earn this" sentimentality.

By reducing the scope to the men and the mission at hand, it tackled a more universal question than were the politicians right? What attracts men to war is a much deeper question than most war movies tackle. Why would anyone reenlist? is a tough question to answer, and this movie gives one answer to that question.

I also think that it has a unique place in war movie annals as the men vs. I.E.D. angle isn't something you see everyday. As well as making it clear that these guys are stangers in a strange land surrounded by people they just don't understand. The jittery handheld camera work and choice of shots adds to that. No cranes in the sky. Shots from the ground or from locations that establish the setting, where perhaps the main characters can't quite see the camera.

I think reducing the movie to plot, is missing some of the real thought and ambitions of the movie. Now, I agree that the movie was a little "on the nose" with the war is a drug / adrenaline junkie theme, but the fact that the character is aware of that at least adds a level of detail there. The cycle may repeat itself, they do get honestly worn down by the job but the attraction is still there.

 

[keith_v]

I just saw this movie yesterday, and I think it's the best film I've seen since Dark Knight. I won't go into any details, but the love ot or hate it feature of the film is its pacing. It's not a beginning, middle, and end deal with this movie. This film is episodic, and if you don't like that style, you're not going to like The Hurt Locker too much.

But I loved it. 10/10 for me.

 

[Sarge 2.0]

Who the hell do you think you are?Do you really think i need to explain myself to you?

You're arrogance and pretentiousness have no limits...every time you disagree with someone,they're wrong....well...i don't give a rats ass whether you thought it was brilliant or not.

You can simply go and write all that affection in your 10.000 essays that no one reads.

I didn't love the movie,end of discussion.

Awww, someone's widdle feewings got hurt just 'cause I asked for some evidence of critical thought and analysis instead of assessing the movie with the critical faculties of a twelve year old.

Also, the fact that my thread has multiple pages and posts, and my blog has multiple readers shows that people read my "10,000 word essays".

Hmmm, weird...people pay attention to your opinions when you have something interesting to say and express it eloquently whilst showing a modicum of critical thought!

What a startling concept!

 

[dogwonder78]

I heard this movie is really good! A couple of my friends saw it this weekend and said it was awesome, but I heard it is depressing...so I am going to hold off on seeing it.

 

[CELTICPRED]

I didn't leave the theater feeling depressed.

 

[Shifty]

I left the theatre wanting more. Great film, hope the DVD has lots of extras.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

I've been hearing rave reviews about this movie. And I'm happy to hear that it doesn't focus on the political ******** that surrounds war. At last a movie that actually focuses on the people in "the ****" and why they are there.

I look forward to checking it out.

 

[xwolverine2]

The movie was good, however overrated by critics.
The film could have been cut down a bit in dialoge scenes. They tended to drag on after the point had been reached in the conversations far too much.

The suspense and thrills are well balanced throughout the film however i found myself waiting for the next mission to come along during the drama. The dialoge wasnt anywhere near as interesting as the suspenseful scenes, and you got to see the characters for who they really where during those intense moments.

That's nitpicking though, overall the films gripping moments are enough to propel the movie to being great.

here's one point for the female directors out there.

 

[nite-owl]

I just got back from seeing it probabley my favourite movie of the year so far.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Loved this movie. To any who haven't seen it, I highly reccomend it. As much as I loved the movie, sometimes I failed to see how critics loved it so much as they did. Was it the character interaction and how they are portrayed reaslitcially in their enviroment and/or the heart quickenign scenes? I'll probably have to think on it more. But it's just a really well made film. And great realistic performances. I definitely can see this as one of the ten nominees for Best Picture and possibly Bigelow as Best Director.

 

[CELTICPRED]

I think one reason for the movie's critical success was the movie's ability to just keep you on your toes the entire time watching it. They were able to take Iraq and make it another character, something that Body of Lies didn't do in my opinion, it wasn't nearly dangerous enough, this film got the "everyone is a terrorist" notion right in my opinion. Or at least to what some friends of mine have told me about their experience over there in the military. You didn't feel safe anywhere.