Captain America may well become Anthony Mackie’s most iconic role when his first solo movie hits theaters, but Sam Wilson has to compete with the actor’s unforgettable character from The Hurt Locker. Throughout his storied acting career, Mackie has given a wide range of performances in a wide range of different projects. He played Tupac Shakur in Notorious, he played Martin Luther King, Jr. in All the Way, he played a gang leader in 8 Mile, he played a post-apocalyptic milkman in Twisted Metal, and he played a rebel on the run in a dystopian future in Altered Carbon.
Although he started out playing Steve Rogers’ sidekick, the Falcon, Mackie is about to become one of the biggest players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he takes on Steve’s mantle in his own solo adventure, Captain America: Brave New World. Mackie’s first solo MCU outing will arrive in theaters on February 14. In the meantime, one of Mackie’s best previous movies is available to stream on Prime Video.
Anthony Mackie Starred In 2008 Best Picture Winner The Hurt Locker – What The Movie Is About
The Hurt Locker Won Six Oscars
Six years before making his Marvel debut, Mackie appeared alongside fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner in Kathryn Bigelow’s nail-biting war thriller The Hurt Locker. The Hurt Locker revolves around an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in Iraq getting targeted by insurgents. The movie explores the deep psychological impact of the stress and trauma of warfare. Mackie plays Sergeant J.T. Sanborn, who often clashes with Renner’s Staff Sergeant William James because he prefers to defuse devices by hand and doesn’t always tell his comrades about his plans.
The Hurt Locker has a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%.
At the 2010 ceremony, The Hurt Locker was nominated for nine Oscars and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director for Bigelow, and Best Original Screenplay for Mark Boal. Boal drew on his experiences as a war correspondent to depict the combat as accurately as possible. The Hurt Locker is a shockingly visceral depiction of the conflict in Iraq, and it captures that conflict on a human level, through their relationships and their individual responses to constant loss and near-death experiences.
Captain Sam Wilson Vs. Sergeant JT Sanborn – Which Is Anthony Mackie’s Better Role?
Sanborn Is More Three-Dimensional Than Sam
While Sam is a likable Marvel hero with some memorable one-liners, Sanborn is a more three-dimensional character. Sam has had some interesting internal conflict since Steve gave him his shield and his title, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t do enough to explore that conflict in any real depth. The Hurt Locker has deeper dramatic themes and character development than any Marvel movie. Sanborn’s conflicts with James — and his conflicts within himself — make him Mackie’s most fascinating character.
The Hurt Locker
9/10
- Release Date
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July 31, 2009
- Runtime
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131 minutes