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The Bomb Squad. Times a Million.

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (15)

thehurtlockerw460.jpg

It seems like everybody and their goddamn mother has tried their hand at making an Iraq War movie. Paul Haggis did it with In the Valley of Elah; Ryan Phillipe gave it a shot with Stop-Loss; his ex-wife, Reese Witherspoon, and her new boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal, attempted it in Rendition; Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams did The Lucky Ones; Peter Berg took a stab with The Kingdom; and John Cusack has tried it twice, with Grace and War, Inc.

And yet, all those movies have something in common besides storylines that center around the Iraq War: They all stunk it up at the box office. No one apparently wants to see an Iraq War movie — not a gritty one, not a feel-good one; and certainly not a serious one.

That may, however, soon change with Kathryn Bigelow’s seriously cool looking Hurt Locker, starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Guy Pierce, and David Morse. Instead of focusing her attention on the politics of the war or on the devastation its caused to the families who have lost loved ones in it, Bigelow — working from Mark Boal’s script (In the Valley of Elah) — focuses on the kablooey, or the dudes that are put in charge of preventing the kablooey. It’s the kind of movie Michael Bay might make, if he were thoughtful, a little more restrained, or at all talented. And it looks downright amazing.











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Comments

For some reason,(Maybe my unconditional love, despite its' faults, of Near Dark) this actually looks like a good movie....

Posted by: TheUpsetter at April 15, 2009 5:25 PM

I'll watch it for the same reasons I used to watch James Bond Jr on teevee as a youngun'. Something exploded in every episode.

Posted by: Roaddog at April 15, 2009 5:29 PM

This looks pretty good. Bigelow is an underrated director, it's nice to see her back behind the camera. Strange Days is such a weird/cool movie and Near Dark is freaking great.

I thought The Kingdom was one of the better action movies in some time. The last 30 minutes of that movie were some of the most intense I've seen in quite a while. Even ass-clown Jamie Foxx couldn't bring it down.

Posted by: TylerDFC at April 15, 2009 5:31 PM

Shit go BOOM? Me like.

Posted by: MM at April 15, 2009 5:44 PM

I would really like to see them focus on the relationships that the troops form ala "Generation Kill".

After four tours in Iraq, my husband would never watch any series/movie that played into the politics/feel good fuckery that any other show has come out with, and "Generation Kill" was the only one he would ever approve of (that or maybe becuase it featured a convoy team, which was what he did). Even though this features an EOD squad I would like to think that my husband would approve by the trailer alone.

Posted by: ashes at April 15, 2009 5:54 PM

I second whoever said that Bigelow is underrated. I thought Strange Days had some really cool sequences in it and it introduced us to one of the best characters ever, I mean, of course, Mace.
And color me completely indoctrinated, but I was surprised to learn it was filmed by a woman.

Posted by: Stella at April 15, 2009 6:20 PM

Yay Jeremy Renner! But why would they DIFFUSE bombs? Blow them in place. Like I'm supposed to believe the US military would go to all that trouble to save Iraqi homes, cars... mosques...whatever. It's just a cost/benefit thing.

Posted by: king at April 15, 2009 7:09 PM

The reason those movies didnt do well was because they were all: 1) anti-american or 2) america sucks 3) we are just as bad as them terrorists.


Posted by: Bob at April 15, 2009 11:15 PM

I thought "Three Kings" was pretty damn good.

Oh, you mean Iraq II.

I hate hate hate to say anything good about Haggis, but "In the Valley of Elah" also was pretty damn good, and was about as restrained and underplayed as "Crash" was completely over the top. Of course, TLJ is just about incapable of turning in a shit performance, and the movie's all his, so ...

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at April 15, 2009 11:25 PM

Several of us saw it at SXSW, Dustin, and it was amazing. One of the better Iraq war movies to come out.

Posted by: Sarah at April 16, 2009 12:09 AM

Just piping in to second the love for Strange Days. Going by the trailer, this definitely seems like something I would go to see.

Posted by: Dill The Devil at April 16, 2009 1:12 AM

saw the film festival screener of this a few months back - it's excellent, and very gritty. i'll definitely be seeing it in the theatres. you really feel the explosions. bigelow has come a long way from point break, but she cant still put together a ridiculous action sequence

Posted by: dflood at April 16, 2009 2:54 AM

I thought Crash was a steaming pile of gelatinous. . .ugh this is grossing me out.

Anyway, I really loved In The Valley of Elah. I found that movie really engaging and haunting. No love for Haggis intended, I swears it.

Posted by: coveredinbees at April 16, 2009 3:40 AM

As luck would have it, I'm actually in Iraq right now, and this movie looks like it at least kind of gets it. If I trust anyone to make a good Iraq movie, I trust Bigelow; Generation Kill is absolutely stunning in its accuracy.

Posted by: Pen Dragon at April 16, 2009 8:19 AM

Looks fascinating. But I got nervous and palm-sweaty just watching the trailer--I don't know if I could take a whole movie of that.

Strange Days was awesome. If reincarnation is true then I want to be reborn as Mace. Woman was seriously bad ass, and gorgeous to boot.

Posted by: DeadBessie at April 16, 2009 10:26 AM