The Phantom Tollbooth - Movies Reviews Index


Since 1996	Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....


Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	The Hurt Locker Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Christian Camargo, Christopher Sayegh and Evangeline Lilly Director: Kathryn Bigelow Scriptwriter: Mark Boal Composers: Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd Summit Films Rating: R for war violence Running Length: 128 minutes There are war films and then there are war films. We even have specialized war films about submariners, helicopters, pilots and now, a bomb disposal unit. In which one is life expectancy measured by micro-seconds? Guess---and it does involve knowing which wire to cut. Such is the premise of The Hurt Locker which refers to a special box in which to keep special items. Sgt. William James (a riveting Jeremy Renner) keeps such a locker and in it are switches from the bombs he has defused that didn’t kill him. Over 800 so far. The man is a walking miracle. Director Kathryn Bigelow, who only makes a film every three years or so, has a stunner here. My first Bigelow film was “Blue Steel” with Jamie Lee Curtis and the late Ron Silver. Photography is a key element in a Bigelow film, and the shots of Curtis, gun in hand, going after her prey are like Sgt. James, tools in hand, going after a bomb to defuse. Curtis was in police uniform and James in bomb gear, and each emphasized authority. In The Hurt Locker, set in Iraq, time is measured by days until the squad’s rotation is over. It is about 30 days until the guys are due back to the states, when their lead man (played by Guy Pearce) is killed by a bomb he tried to outrun. Enter, Sgt. James, the replacement, who is gung-ho from the beginning and a thorn in the side of the always-by-the-book Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie). They lock heads almost immediately and between them is the sometimes frightened, Spec. Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). You get to know the men from defusing to defusing and begin to realize that James has a passion with explosives. It’s him against them and he intends to win. His superiors are in awe of his skills, but the men he actually works with think he will get them killed. This attitude of loving what war provides---that adrenaline rush---is reminiscent of the John Hersey novel/film “The War Lover,” (1962) that starred Steve McQueen as a WWII pilot who didn’t want the war to end because then there would be no place for him. James is like that character, the real world with supermarkets and his ex-wife and child, have no place for him. What exists is a bomb suit, tools and trying to take apart someone else’s wiring. What does touch James, though, is a street kid (Christopher Sayegh) who plays some soccer with James. When the kid is killed by a bomb, James almost loses it and for one time, you see how tightly wound he is. Booze helps. This film, which is gaining momentum around the country, should be remembered at Oscar nomination time, both for performances (James Renner and Anthony Mackie), script and director. There isn’t a spare moment here and Bigelow gets you right over James’ shoulder as he looks at intricate wiring and decides what to do. It is almost too real---he has the bomb suit on and you don’t. Such men as Sgt. James really do exist. If James Renner looks familiar, he was in television’s The Unusuals and the film 28 Weeks Later.” Copyright 2009 Marie Asner