危機倒數(The Hurt Locker)

Based on the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional story), director Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War-set action thriller The Hurt Locker presents the conflict in the Middle East from the perspective of those who witnessed the fighting firsthand -- the soldiers. As an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. In Baghdad, roadside bombs are a common danger. The Army is working to make the city a safer place for Americans and Iraqis, so when it comes to dismantling IEDs (improvised explosive devices) the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) crew is always on their game. But protecting the public isn't easy when there's no room for error, and every second spent dismantling a bomb is another second spent flirting with death. Now, as three fearless bomb technicians take on the most dangerous job in Baghdad, it's only a matter of time before one of them gets sent to "the hurt locker." Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce, and Ralph Fiennes star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi


The screenplay for "The Hurt Locker," based on incidents journalist Mark Boal witnessed while embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq, tells of men jointly engaged in the most terrifying job in the world: defusing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the midst of the insurgency in Baghdad. Credit: Summit


"The Hurt Locker" was filmed in Jordan and Kuwait, at times within a few miles of the Iraq border. Iragi refugees were also featured in the film, such as actor Suhail Aldabbach, who played a man forced to wear a timed suicide bomber's vest which Renner's technician struggles to disarm. Credit: Summit Entertainment

Set in 2004, the film opens with the men of Bravo Company's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit using a robot to search out and disarm a bomb in a Baghdad street.
Credit: Summit Entertainment


Following Thompson's death, Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), dubbed by one military officer as a "wild man," takes over the EOD team, joining Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). Credit: Summit

James demonstrates a coolness under pressure that appears (to his fellow EOD unit members) strangely reckless, as when he removes his protective gear and discards his radio while seeking a car bomb's hidden detonator.
Credit: Summit

Storyline
An intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn and Eldridge, by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. James behaves as if he's indifferent to death. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever. Written by BWR Public Relations

Taglines
War is a drug.
You'll know when you're in it.
Cut the red wire.
You don't have to be a hero to do this job. But it helps.
Cut the red one

Review
TIFF 2008: The Hurt Locker - World class war-action cinema
10 September 2008 | by (corstay@hotmail.com) (Canada)
Simply put, action ace Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" is a near masterpiece of suspense and unrelenting intensity.

Her first film since 2002's "K-19: The Widowmaker," The Hurt Locker is definitely a return to form from the director of probably the greatest (in this man's humble opinion) surfer-action movie of all time "Point Break." The film follows Bravo company, a team of bomb technicians situated right in the heart of the Iraq war's modern IED warfare. Jeremy Renner, mostly known for impressive performances in "S.W.A.T" and "The Assassination of Jesse James," gives his most riveting performance yet as the lead, Staff Sergeant William James, a reckless but brilliant soldier who has taken down almost 850 bombs.

What separates this film from the bulk of mainstream cinema that has tackled the Iraqi situation is that it doesn't simply exist as a political polemic, or even a reminder of the humanitarian horrors that plague the Iraqi people.

Instead, Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal give us a story that transcends politics and can be seen as almost a straight up kick-ass action pic. The film is plotted by increasingly dangerous and fully realized defusion sequences, all of which were shot from beginning to end in single takes with DOP Barry Ackroyd's cameras continuously roving around set in order to create a tense realism that translates well to the screen.

Very elaborate attention to detail and mise-en-scene is in every frame of the pic, with Bigelow choosing to shoot in Jordan and locations being less than 10 KM away from the Iraqi border. And from a searing heat wave ranging up to 49C to actual Iraqi refugees used as extras to impeccable sound design and special guest cameos by Guy Pearce, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes, Bigelow has succeeded in creating an entirely memorable and visceral experience that will surely leave its mark in the pantheon of the very best war spectacles put to film.