The Hurt Locker(2008)

It took a while before this movie reached our shores. This was shown first in October last year for a short time, then it was released again this month after The 82nd  Academy Awards.  I don't know if there's a deeper story behind it.  Normally, I would check, but I don't think I'll bother.  

Let me just talk about what I think instead.

I like the team up of Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal. The story was very moving and the direction was superb.  It made me seem to experience war first hand and I know deep in my heart that I wouldn't want to experience it for real. 

My heart was torn to pieces several times.  There were people I wanted to save and when one of them practically exploded, I felt like dying too.

The Iraq war is one of the biggest mistakes in the world.  Hey, I'm just making a comment and I don't want to wage war against anyone, but I hope it never happened.  War is really stupid! A lot of innocents become casualties.  Sometimes, there's just a causer of chaos.  Someone or a certain country perhaps, would spin stories that would irk two parties, at the very least, making them hate each other.  Sigh.  I'm digressing.  Why do I love to do that?

JEREMY RENNER's acting was very realistic here, rather, he was not acting at all.  So far, this is his best work ever.  He was also great as the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, but I like his performance here, as Sergeant William James better.  William was a great team leader.  He did what he could.  Yet, his efforts were misconstrued and made the others mad at him or something.  Thank goodness this was realized later.  

This film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing during the 82nd Academy Awards held ten days ago, more or less, so I guess that's why this movie was shown just now.  Sometimes the people in this country wait for the results of The Oscars and The Golden Globes before showing something seemingly unpopular, for it to have more value.  If it were something from Marvel or anything anticipated globally, they would show it here legally days before or even weeks before.

Ralph Fiennes was also very good here.  I wanted to kick him at times, but somehow, I also understood where he was coming from. 

The movie shocked me, rather, it shook me from the very start and did not make me sleep.  I was involved in every scene.

I watched reruns of COMBAT when I was a little girl(during this time, I watched ROOTS too) and it was really too much for me.  I was actually happy that I was born(well the Vietnam war was happening, but I was not aware of that) when the earth was seemingly free.  In my country, Martial Law happened when I was learning how to run, but I was not so affected because I spent my formative years in the US of A where I Pledged my allegiance to her flag without understanding what I was saying.  I was only aware of the effects of Martial Law when I transferred to St. Scholastica's College.  I grew up thinking Ninoy Aquino was the enemy.  No.  My parents never inculcated me to hate Ninoy.  I just heard it all around Camp Aguinaldo and where I was studying, with the exception of my classmate, Wendy, who told me of the anomalies of the government back then.  

Ninoy Aquino died in 1983 then almost three years later, a 4-day revolution happened.

War is really stupid as stupid can be.

Poor kids.

Poor innocent kids.

Poor innocent bystanders.

Shucks.

All those casualties of war.

Hurt locker has a powerhouse supporting cast that includes Anthony Mackie, Guy Pearce and Brian Geraghty.  They all immersed into their own respective characters, no matter how short or long each character's exposure was.

It was great meeting Evangeline Lilly for the first time.  She did have some bit roles before this movie, but this is the first time I really noticed her.  I am sure she will be given other important projects in the future.  

Hope you watch this movie. 


It was great birthday treat for me, even though it was a day late. 

Connie and William James (Evangeline Lilly and Jeremy Renner)

I never imagined someone could think that this is a 'date' movie, but I appreciate it...thank you!

Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) are members of a bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad. As their tour of duty enters its final weeks, the men face a set of increasingly hazardous situations, any of which could end their lives in an explosive instant.- WWW