How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Hurt Locker.
Quote #1
THOMPSON: Twenty-five.
SANBORN: Twenty-five meters, roger that. You are now in the kill zone.
THOMPSON: Thanks for reminding me.
SANBORN: That's what I'm here for, baby.
As Thompson approaches a bomb that needs to be neutralized, Sanborn lets him know via the radio that his current distance is within the bomb's "kill zone." Comforting.
Quote #2
ELDRIDGE: Aren't you glad the Army has all these tanks parked here? Just in case the Russians come and we have to have a big tank battle.
SANBORN: I'd rather be on the side with the tanks, just in case, than not have them.
ELDRIDGE: Yeah, but they don't do anything. I mean, anyone comes alongside a Humvee, we're dead. Anybody even looks at you funny, we're dead. Pretty much the bottom line is if you're in Iraq, you're dead. How's a f***ing tank supposed to stop that?
SANBORN: Will you shut the f*** up, Owen, please?
ELDRIDGE: Sorry. Just trying to scare the new guy.
As we've already mentioned elsewhere, Eldridge has trouble coping with the fact that they are surrounded by potential opportunities for instant death. He's pretending he wants to scare Will, but really he's working through his own awareness of how close death is at all times.
Quote #3
WILL: That wasn't so bad, our first time working together. What do you think?
SANBORN: Huh. I think us working together means I talk to you, and you talk to me.
WILL: We going on a date, Sanborn?
SANBORN: No, we're going on a mission, and my job is to keep you safe so we can keep going on missions.
WILL: It's combat, buddy.
ELDRIDGE: Hey, it's just 39 days.
SANBORN: Thirty-eight if we survive today.
Sanborn isn't as vocal about it as Eldridge, but he also must be thinking about how close they are to death pretty much all the time. Case in point: even though they've finished up their job, Sanborn still doesn't think it's a guarantee that they'll survive the day.
Quote #4
ELDRIDGE: Hey, it's Mr. "Be All You Can Be." What's up, doc?
CAMBRIDGE: Not much. How are you?
ELDRIDGE: I'm good. Got a question about that song, though. "Be All You Can Be." What if all I can be is dead on the side of an Iraqi road? I mean, I think it's logical. This is a war. People die all the time. Why not me?
CAMBRIDGE: You got to change the record in your head. You gotta start thinking about other things, okay? Stop obsessing. Right now, what are you thinking about?
ELDRIDGE: You want to know what I'm thinking about, doc?
CAMBRIDGE: Yeah.
ELDRIDGE: This is what I'm thinking about, doc. Here's Thompson, okay. He's dead, he's alive. Here's Thompson. He's dead, he's alive. He's dead, he's alive.
Eldridge has a lot of trouble coping with the whole potential-for-death-at-any-moment thing, and talking to the company's shrink doesn't seem to help all that much. In particular, he seems very disturbed about how instantaneous death can be. With no warning, you're completely gone. One moment, Thompson was alive. The next minute, he wasn't. We get it—it's a hard thing to wrap your head around.
Quote #5
SANBORN: You know, these detonators misfire all the time.
ELDRIDGE: What are you doing?
SANBORN: I'm just saying s*** happens, they misfire.
Here, Sanborn is considering killing Will "by accident." He and Eldridge are both terrified that Will's reckless style is going to get them all killed, and so Sanborn seems to want to take, er, preventive measures. It seems that being so close to death constantly may have warped Sanborn's sense of right and wrong, eh?
Quote #6
WILL: This box is full of stuff that almost killed me.
ELDRIDGE: And what about this one? Where's this one from, Will?
WILL: It's my wedding ring. Like I said, stuff that almost killed me. You know, I just think it's really interesting, you know, to hold something in your hand that could have killed any one of us.
Unlike the others, Will is apparently totally down with risking death every day. He even keeps little reminders of his encounters with danger in a box under his bed. The box is mostly filled with bomb parts, with the exception of his wedding ring.
Quote #7
ELDRIDGE: Thanks for saving my life, but we didn't have to go out looking for trouble to get your f***ing adrenaline fix, you f***.
When Will leads the team into an unnecessarily dangerous situation, Eldridge ends up getting taken—and in the process of getting him back, Will accidentally shoots him in the leg. Eldridge manages to thank Will for not actually getting him killed, but he's not thrilled about the fact that his leg has been blown to pieces. Of course, Will may have saved Eldridge in more than one way since the wound gets Eldridge out of the war zone right away.
Quote #8
WILL: You all right?
SANBORN: Naw, man. I f***ing hate this place.
WILL: Here, man, have a hit.
SANBORN: I'm not ready to die, James.
WILL: Well, you're not going to die out here, bro.
SANBORN: Another two inches. Shrapnel zings by, slices my throat. I bleed out like a pig in the sand. Nobody'll give a s***. I mean, my parents'll care, but they don't count, man, who else? I don't even have a son.
WILL: Well, you're going to have plenty of time for that, amigo.
SANBORN: Naw, man.
WILL: You know?
SANBORN: I'm done. I want a son. I want a little boy, Will. I mean, how do you do it, you know? Take the risk?
WILL: I don't know, I just...I guess I don't think about it.
SANBORN: Every time we go out, it's life or death, you roll the dice...You recognize that, don't you?
WILL: Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I do. But I don't know why, you know. Yeah. I don't know, JT. You know why I am the way I am?
SANBORN: No, I don't.
Here, Sanborn is contemplating how much his life would mean if it were to, er, end. Apparently, these thoughts have convinced him finally that he needs to get the show on the road and have a kid. Of course, that probably means the end of his career in EOD since he doesn't seem to think it's right to take those kinds of risks with a kid at home. Will, however, sees no real issue.