The Hurt Locker (2008)The Hurt Locker is one of the great war films of the 21st century, released in 2008 and directed by Kathryn Bigelow with a screenplay by Mark Boal, a journalist who embedded with a US Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq. Jeremy Renner stars as Staff Sergeant William James, a reckless, fearless EOD technician who thrives on the adrenaline of defusing improvised explosive devices on the streets of Baghdad. The film won six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director — making Bigelow the first woman in history to win the Best Director Oscar. Shot with a documentary-level immediacy using handheld cameras and natural light, it is a visceral, psychologically complex portrait of soldiers living at the extreme edge of human experience. A landmark film that demands to be seen on the best possible screen.Highlights Jeremy Renner's breakthrough performance — A career-defining turn that earned him an Oscar nomination; Renner makes James's addiction to danger completely believable and deeply unsettling, creating one of the most complex protagonists in modern war cinema. Kathryn Bigelow's direction — Precise, immersive and utterly controlled; Bigelow's use of handheld cameras, long lenses and real Iraqi locations creates a documentary authenticity that puts the viewer inside every bomb disposal sequence. The opening sequence — The film announces itself with one of the most tense and perfectly constructed opening scenes in recent cinema; the death of Guy Pearce's character in the first ten minutes sets the film's uncompromising tone immediately. The sniper sequence — A long, slow-burning set piece in the desert that is unlike anything else in the film; Bigelow sustains unbearable tension across an extended sequence with almost no dialogue and minimal action. The supermarket epilogue — James back home, standing in a cereal aisle, unable to choose; one of cinema's great final images, communicating everything about the film's themes of addiction, purpose and the impossibility of re-entry into civilian life. Disc Details Title: The Hurt Locker Year: 2008 Director: Kathryn Bigelow Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes Studio: Summit Entertainment Certificate: 15 Region: Region B (UK) Format: Blu-ray Runtime: 131 minutes Genre: War / Drama / Thriller Barcode: 5060052418487 ConditionCondition: VG/VG — see our Condition Grading Guide.Browse our full range of Blu-ray titles. You might also enjoy our Compact Discs or Vinyl Records.
