The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker (2008) — watch online on iFILM — a war thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by journalist Mark Boal who embedded with a real US Army EOD unit in Iraq. Jeremy Renner plays Staff Sergeant William James, a bomb tech who treats every IED like a puzzle to be solved alone.

James joins a three-man Bravo Company disposal team in Baghdad. Sergeant Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) wants protocol and a quiet rotation home. Specialist Eldridge is counting the days. James keeps cutting wires nobody asked him to cut. Each callout — a car packed with artillery shells, a suicide vest, a body rigged to blow — tightens the gap between skill and luck.

Bigelow shoots on handheld cameras in tight, grimy alleys of Jordan doubling for Iraq. Less a combat film, more a portrait of a man physiologically wired for danger. The Hurt Locker took six Academy Awards at the 2010 ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director — Bigelow became the first woman to win that category. Stream The Hurt Locker (2008) in good quality on iFILM.