The Hurt Locker Blu-ray Review
Tech-at-a-Glance.
- 1080p
- DTS-HD Master Audio.
- Single disc release.
The Movie.
In Point Break, Bodie lives for the rush, gradually enticing Johnny Utah - who is as addicted as he is - into the world of stronger highs and bigger thrills. Strange Days' Nero is forever looking for the most exciting 'clip' he can find, or reliving old highs through virtual reality, while in Near Dark, blood provides not only life, but an almost orgasmic high for the vampires. Kathryn Bigelow, aside from making distinctly macho films, also makes films about adrenalin junkies, and The Hurt Locker is another example of this.
The plot is simple, following the death of their respected leader, an IED bomb disposal group in the final days of their tour of Iraq gets a new Staff Sergeant, but one whose disregard for his own safety and apparent enjoyment of highly dangerous situations begins to threaten the crew.
While there is narrative flow throughout The Hurt Locker, it is essentially a collection of set-pieces - but what a collection! As you take your breath when the movie starts, the all-enveloping tension experienced for the next 130 minutes makes it feel like you don't exhale until the final moment. This astonishingly tense atmosphere is a testament to Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant direction, making us care about the characters with the minimal amount of development, by keeping our attention on just how dangerous their jobs really are.
Several big-name actors appear in cameo roles, leaving the main characters for those less well-known, but mark our words, no-one is safe here, providing an uncomfortable, but very realistic feeling that anyone could die at any moment. The excellent locations, actually close to the Iraqi border in Jordan, add even more realism to the situation, as does the faux-documentary shooting style.
Where The Hurt Locker fails slightly is when it tries to add too much story. Instead of concentrating on just the soldiers and their daily flirtations with mortal danger, there is the addition of a subplot involving a local boy selling pirate DVDs. While its intentions are clearly to justify Staff Sergeant James's behavior, it ends up feeling like unnecessary back story along with an oddly unrealistic nighttime excursion into the city.
However, this is easily forgiven when the rest of The Hurt Locker feels like the onset of an anxiety attack. Not since Black Hawk Down has a war movie done such a great job of not being about war, but the men who fight it.
5/5
The Audio and Video.
Even if The Hurt Locker was rubbish, it would still be a must-own disc thanks to the astounding audio mix. The opening sequence puts you in the centre of a bomb disposal operation, trapped inside a protective suit, wary of noises coming from behind and then shocked as an explosion rips the air apart. The bass and surround effects used here are so intense and so real, that this disc puts every other supposedly immersive movie soundtrack to shame.
It continues too. Sick of feeble sounding gun shots in films? Not here you won't be, as each and every shot is given a healthy bass kick so that when 50mm guns start blazing, you know 50mm guns are blazing! Around the back, helicopters constantly whirr across the soundscape, while upfront, the dialogue is clear and concise. An audio treat!
The image is also excellent, but as The Hurt Locker is rather drab in terms of colour, with plenty of sun-induced whiteout in places too, we have to look to faces and grains of sand to find all the wonderful detail. There is plenty of it once you start to look beyond the normal Blu-ray standbys of landscapes and bright colours, with sweat beads and intricately detailed gun barrels particular standouts.
A wonderful presentation of a brilliant film.
5/5
Extras.
The disc reviewed is the UK single disc edition, encoded as region B. The extras look like this: A behind-the-scenes featurette, interviews and backstage, all totaling around 25 minutes of bonus material. The only trouble is, none are worth watching. The BTS featurette is a little fluffy, not really giving much insight - not its fault really, as there is only so much everyone can say on location in 12 minutes - and the backstage featurette is exactly that; it's like standing backstage, watching what's going on and no-one saying a word to you. The interviews are slightly more revealing, but again, a 10 minute runtime for a collection of interviews is just not enough to get any real depth.
The US edition adds a commentary with Kathryn Bigelow, but is encoded as region A, so Euro fans will have to make do without. If you've heard the commentary, let us know what it's like in the comments section below.
2/5
Overall.
It doesn't matter that the bonus content is lacking, as the powerful, exciting film and rip-roaring audio track ensure you'll return to the film several times before worrying about gaining any insight about how it was made. Best Director Oscar in the bag? I think so!
5/5
everyone must be watch this film on blu-ray..Thank you for review
Posted by: Bluray Film indir | February 26, 2010 at 11:08 AM