Poster © Summit Entertainment. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreDrama, Thriller & War
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 11 mins
ReleasedJune 26, 2009
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorKathryn Bigelow
StarringJeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
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The Hurt Locker (2008)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Hurt Locker's Details | |
| Genre | Drama, Thriller & War |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 09/04/2008 (Venice); 06/26/2009 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 11 mins |
| Budget | $15M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| The Hurt Locker's Interests | |
| General | Bomb suits, wire cutters, dusty Baghdad streets, radio chatter, the countdown of days left in rotation. |
| Music | Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, with a score that mostly hums under your skin. |
| Movies | Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Same director, same writer, same nerves. |
| Television | Generation Kill. The Iraq War, seen from inside a Humvee. |
| Heroes | Sanborn (Anthony Mackie). Steady, careful and always looking out for his team. |
| The Hurt Locker's Crew | |
| Director | Kathryn Bigelow |
| Writers | Mark Boal |
| Producers | Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro |
| Cinematography | Barry Ackroyd |
| Music | Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders |
| Edited By | Chris Innis, Bob Murawski |
| Production | Voltage Pictures, Grosvenor Park Productions, First Light, Kingsgate Films |
| Distributed By | Summit Entertainment |
The scariest sound in The Hurt Locker is a man’s own breathing inside a bomb suit. Kathryn Bigelow builds whole scenes out of that sound, a dusty street and a wire that might be the wrong one. The honest problem is the main character. Jeremy Renner’s Sergeant James is so reckless he’d probably be pulled from duty within a week, and once you notice that, some scenes feel built for tension more than truth. The movie is also a string of missions instead of a story, so it can feel like it’s circling. But the tension never quits. Anthony Mackie gives the film its conscience as Sanborn, the guy doing everything right and getting no reward for it. A desert sniper standoff plays out with brutal patience and might be the best scene of the decade. It made just $49.3 million worldwide, with a movie.guru score of 9.2. An 8.7 because it shows war as a habit some people can’t quit. $1,046 says you notice your own breathing during the first bomb call and try to slow it down.
What works: Nerve-shredding tension built from small details, plus Anthony Mackie’s grounded, frustrated Sanborn.
What doesn’t: Sergeant James is so reckless he stretches belief, and the episodic missions never quite add up to a full story.
Who it’s for: People who want a war film about the soldiers walking toward the danger, not a big battle spectacle.
Spoilers
Eldridge is badly wounded and sent home blaming James. James goes home too, can’t settle into everyday life with his wife and baby son, and the film ends with him back in Iraq on a new tour, walking toward the next bomb.
Baghdad, 2004. Bravo Company's bomb disposal unit has weeks left on its rotation when a new team leader arrives: Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner), who walks up to live explosives like it is just another errand. Sergeant J. T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) does everything by the book and wants the whole team home in one piece. Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) is young, rattled and counting every single day. Each call brings a new device and a new crowd watching, and James keeps pulling off his headset. Kathryn Bigelow directs. One hundred thirty minutes, and the tension never lets go.
Anyone who wants to understand the people who do this job. Watch it with the sound up.
Sergeant First Class William Jamesphoto: Max Surprenant, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
the leader of a Private Military Company unitphoto: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
| Jeremy Renner | Sergeant First Class William James |
| Anthony Mackie | Sergeant J. T. Sanborn |
| Brian Geraghty | Specialist Owen Eldridge |
| Guy Pearce | Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson |
| Christian Camargo | Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge |
| David Morse | Colonel Reed |
| Ralph Fiennes | the leader of a Private Military Company unit |
| Evangeline Lilly | Connie James |
| Christopher Sayegh | Beckham |
| Malcolm Barrett | Sergeant Foster |
| Sam Spruell | Contractor Charlie |
| Suhail Dabbach | a man forced to wear a bomb vest |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.5 / 10 (500,726 votes) → 7.5 / 10 (500,758 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $49.3M; Domestic box office $17M; Opening weekend $145K; Profit / loss (est.) +$2.1M; Rotten Tomatoes 96%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 96% (288 reviews); Metacritic 95 / 100; IMDb users 7.5 / 10 (500,726 votes); movie.guru score 9.2.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.