Just got back from the Walter Reade/Film Comment closing night of “The Hurt Locker” and wow, was dazzled and taken aback by the experience. A dizzying display of raw, intense energy, the first fantastic film of 2009 has arrived and its a fierce and impressive piece of work.
Hollywood Elsewhere’s intel and rave reviews were on the money, according to director Kathryn Bigelow – who was in attendance for a post-screening Q&A — the film has been set for a June 26 release and is riveting and tremendous. A summer release may seem strange, superficially, but the film is locked and loaded rock n’ roll, but it the most intelligent expression of that dunderheaded phrase.
We thought lead Jeremy Renner was dropping tow-the-line lip service when he adamantly insisted the picture wasn’t an Iraq war film — of course he would, they’re unfortunately box office poison — but he was exactly on the mark. An action suspense thriller that happens to be set in The backdrop of the Iraq War, ‘Hurt Locker’ is an apoliticized look at adrenaline junkies who happen to be EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) experts. Jeremy Renner stars as reckless war addict who relishes the rush of immobilizing IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty are his poor security officers meant to safeguard him at all costs. Madness revolves around the soldiers 360 and Renner thrives, but Mackie and Geraghty are essentially casualties of his war on normalcy.
The film also features small appearances by Guy Pearce, Evangeline Lilly, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes — dayplayers as it were — that round out the already stellar trio, who hopefully will be recognized for their incredibly urgent performances (though Renner already was nominated for a 2008 Independent Spirit award; Mickey Rourke won).
Shot on 16mm with entirely hand held cameras by “United 93” cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (also known for his work with Ken Loach), ‘Locker’ is a tightly-wound nerveracker of controlled chaos and the fever pitch of unnerving and anxiety-ridden suspense is masterfully conducted. We have lots of quotes from Bigelow and whole lot more to say, but we’ve got to go to bed. Suffice to say, “The Hurt Locker” — a military and sports expression to represent an ultimate pain, i.e., “that bomb goes off and you’re gonna be in the hurt locker” — is as a superb thriller. Oh, and don’t worry, there’s no mention of that term in the film. As Bigelow laughed, “no, we don’t use the kind of exposition.” How right she is. We can’t wait for everyone to see this, it’s a fantastic picture and immense filmmaking.
PS. Another little thought: Bigelow exudes confidence in person and you can clearly see it in her assured directorial work in this film. Most impressive was when an audience member asked her in the Q&A what it was like as a female directing a very masculine and aggro-testosterone filled story. She sort of blinked like it did not compute. The questions seemed to intimate: was she intimidated, but clearly she was not. It’s not something that phases her one iota and it says a lot about her and the intrepidness of her filmmaking.