What does the title the hurt locker mean?

Answer 1

The Hurt Locker opens with a quotation from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a best-selling 2002 book by New York Times war correspondent and journalist Chris Hedges: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug."[2][3][4] All the words fade except for the last four.

Sergeant First Class William James, a battle-tested veteran, arrives as a new team leader in Bravo company of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit during the early stages of the post-invasion period in Iraq in 2004,[5][6] replacing Staff Sergeant Thompson, who is killed by a radio-controlled 155mm improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. The rest of his team consists of Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, who guard him as he works in his bombsuit disarming IEDs.

James's maverick methods and attitude lead Sanborn and Eldridge to consider him reckless, and tensions mount. When they are assigned to destroy some of the explosives in a remote desert area, James returns to the detonation site to pick up his gloves. Sanborn openly contemplates killing James by "accidentally" triggering the explosion, making Eldridge very uncomfortable, but does nothing.

Driving back to the Camp Victory in their Humvee, the team encounter a Ford Excursion with a flat tire and five men clad in Arab garb. After a tense initial encounter, the men reveal themselves to be mercenaries who have captured two prisoners featured on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. The entire group suddenly come under fire and take cover. When the prisoners attempt to escape in the confusion, the leader of the mercenaries (Ralph Fiennes) suddenly remembers the bounty for them is "dead or alive", so he shoots them. During the encounter three of the mercenaries are killed, including the leader; Sanborn and James manage to dispatch three attackers, while Eldridge kills a fourth.

During a raid on a warehouse, James discovers the body of a young boy which has been surgically implanted with an unexploded bomb. James believes it to be "Beckham", a young Iraqi DVD seller he had previously befriended. During evacuation, Colonel Cambridge, the camp's psychiatrist, is killed in an explosion and Eldridge blames himself for asking the Colonel to accompany them. Later, James leaves the military compound seeking revenge, but his search leads to nothing.

Called to the nighttime scene of a petrol tanker detonation in order to carry out an assessment, James decides on his own to hunt for the insurgents responsible, guessing they are still in the immediate area. Sanborn protests, but when James heads out, he and Eldridge reluctantly follow. After they split up, Eldridge is captured by insurgents; he is rescued by James and Sanborn, but they accidentally shoot him in the leg.

The following morning, James is approached by Beckham. The young boy tries to sell James some more DVDs, but the soldier walks by without saying a word. Before being airlifted for surgery, Eldridge angrily blames James for his injury.

James and Sanborn's unit is called to another mission, where an innocent Iraqi civilian has had a bomb vest strapped to his chest. James attempts to cut off the bolts to remove the vest, but there are too many, forcing him to abandon the mission, and the civilian is blown up. Sanborn becomes emotional and confesses to James that he can no longer cope with the pressure, and wants to return home and have a son.

James returns home to his wife and child. However, the boredom of routine civilian life agitates him. One night, James confesses to his infant son that there is only one thing that he knows he loves. At the close of the film, he is seen starting another tour of duty serving with Delta company of an EOD unit as they are just starting their 365 day rotation.

Answer 2

The title is based on slang for being injured as you get sent to the 'Hurt Locker'

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