The Hurt Locker

Written by: Mark Boal

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty , Guy Pearce

Rated R for war violence and language.

With less than two months left in Bravo squad’s tour of Iraq, we follow three soldiers out on the job trying to maneuver a robot to disarm what they think is a bomb. After a few difficulties, Sergeant Thompson (Pearce) suits up to dismantle it by hand. With the cover of Sergeant Sanborn (Mackie) and Specialist Eldridge (Geraghty), Thompson inches closer and closer to the bomb. Eldridge spots a guy with a cell phone in a store front and tries to stop him before he hits the button triggering the bomb.

Cut to Sanborn welcoming the new squadron leader James (Renner) to the crew. They quickly learn that James has a kick-ass way of handling things. Their first day out trying to disarm a bomb, he foregoes the robot and immediately wants to suit up to put his hands on the bomb himself. Eldridge is completely shocked, and Sanborn is pissed, but they make it out alive…that time. They just try to count down their last days in the sand until they can make it back home.

This is a war movie about being in war. There’s no hidden agenda about being for or against what’s going on in Iraq. The filmmakers don’t even really say anything about what the soldiers are doing there. They just follow orders. End of story.

Jeremy Renner does a great job as a soldier who just knows what he’s good at. He takes apart bombs. Hundreds of them. He’s kinda of a dick, but you still like him for some unexplainable reason. Brian Geraghty was new to me even though he’s been in movies I’ve seen before but obviously I didn’t pay any attention to him. Eldridge has that All-American look and is young enough to be scared shitless to actually be in war. They even mention that the character sees a shrink while he’s there. I think that was a good add-in because that doesn’t really seem to get talked about .

To me Anthony Mackie has just always been “Papa Doc” to me even though I’ve seen She Hate Me and I choose to ignore his 2Pac impersonation in Notorious, but after this movie I’ll finally be able to see him as a good actor. Maybe even great. He shows a full range of emotion n this movie. I really felt for him in a scene with Renner where they talk about having sons to go home to.

This movie looked like Traffic to me. Not in the over-saturated color sort of way, but in the “damn is this a documentary?” way. You feel like you’re right there. Hot ass desert. Random sniper fire. Right in the face of the bombs. You feel it! The tension when the techs snip the wire. When they’re ducking behind rocks. Running from a bomb they just know is about to blow. Goofing off in the barracks.

Overall I give this movie an A+. Yes! A+. I’d be super shocked if it wasn’t nominated for at least Best Director, if not Best Movie, and Best Supporting Actor (I didn’t say win, but they should get the nods dammit. Especially with the Academy expanding the Best Movie nominations to 10 instead of 5!) If you liked Jarhead, you will love The Hurt Locker. Did you see In the Valley of Elah? You didn’t? You should have. For the 10 other people that saw it, if you liked it, despite the preachy symbolism at the end, you will like this movie. If you didn’t…well you should still like the movie, and you should probably look for Elah on cable or Netflix.

Public Enemies

Public Enemies

Written by: Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann
Directed by: Michael Mann

Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup, Stephen Graham

Rated R for gangster violence and some language


Public Enemies is a look at about a year and a half in the life of John Dillinger (Depp) as a notorious bank robber during the Great Depression in 1933. He likes movies, fast cars, robbing banks, and Billie Frenchette (Cotillard). Pretty simple guy. J. Edgar Hoover (Crudup) is a government guy who is trying to start what is now the FBI. He gets Melvin Purvis (Bale) to head up the Chicago division and gives him the difficult task of capturing Dillinger, ?Baby Face? Nelson (Graham), and ?Pretty Boy? Floyd.

Dillinger is a pretty quiet guy. He has a few close friends. He?s loyal to them. And it seems as if he has a few principles. He won?t take any of the customers or tellers money, only the banks. Purvis is determined to get his man and J. Edgar Hoover is making it a national campaign to stop the crime spree in the Midwest.

It was a great change to see Johnny Depp play a role that didn?t require makeup. Don?t get me wrong, I loved?ok well I generally liked all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and I watch Edward Scissorhands whenever it is on. But Johnny is a good actor period. I liked his Dillinger. He was a cool bad guy. Like you wanted to be friends with him. He was charming and thought things through and was smart. Plus anyone who can successfully rob a bank in under two minutes, with no casualties, without casing the joint, and give the hostage a souvenir is certifiably awesome.

Christian Bale was good in this too, just like he is in the other billion movies he?s been in the past couple years, but I wouldn?t call this a particularly stand out role for him. He kinda seemed like a dick, but I guess its because the guys he were working with pretty much botched every task they had before them.

I really liked Marion Cotillard?s Billie. She was young and was totally smitten with Dillinger, but she wasn?t stupid. She knew what was at risk when getting involved with such an infamous guy, but she went for it anyway. I think Stephen Graham had a great time playing the crazy ?Baby Face? Nelson. I was dying for him to say something along the lines of ?I believe you, but my Tommy gun don?t.?

Normally I don?t pay much attention to the cinematography, but it was pretty cool in this movie. I read that Mann uses HD cameras to do the filming, and its very noticeable. Sometimes I couldn?t tell if they used actual old footage, or just were able to make the print look that authentic. Mann also gives you a great car chase in the woods and plenty shootouts (I guess that?s what ?gangster violence? is to the ratings board). I did have some problems with the audio and at first I was pissed thinking that Bale was using his ?Batman growl? but the sound was just low on what everyone was saying. I actually read a lot of people?s complaints about this.

Overall I give the movie a B. Mann does a good job showing you a general overview of crime in 1933, so we don?t get much background info on why Dillinger is who he is, but we?re also introduced to all these other gangster guys that you?ve heard about in rap songs (as soon as they mentioned Frank Nitti, the ?I Got 5 On It? remix wouldn?t get out of my head) and have seen in Bugs Bunny cartoons, but its too many guys and nobody really gets the focus they deserve. The 2.5 hours runtime actually flew by for me and it would be a great BluRay buy.