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.
Thompson's sarcastic "thanks for reminding me" suggests that he might be at least a wee bit scared about his proximity to the bomb, despite his attempts to keep things light. Maybe that's the big difference between him and Will: he seems to have a healthy respect for the power of the bomb. And yet he's the one who gets killed.
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.
Eldridge is the most fearful member of the EOD team by far. Here, he seems to be making light of the dangers they encounter (at least somewhat) by talking about the overall absurdity of how the military does things. But don't be fooled: he's really, really afraid. He claims he's trying to "scare the new guy," but once we know more about Eldridge and his anxieties, we realize this moment is definitely about him working through his fears.
Quote #3
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.
Some people like to avoid the stuff that could scare them (or at least banish such objects from their bedrooms), but not Will. Instead, he collects the remains of those things. Seems to be kind of a power thing, right? Not only has he taken away the bomb's power, but also he gets to keep and own a little piece of it.
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 is obsessed with how close he is to death at all times. He's clearly agreed to meet with the doc to try to deal with all this fear, but it doesn't look like it's working all that well. To help him out, the doctor tries to get him to focus on something other than death—but to no avail.
Quote #5
CONTRACTOR TEAM LEADER: You guys are wired f***ing tight, you know that?
The head of a British contracting team says this after Eldridge, Sanborn, and Will basically treat him and his colleagues like enemies—forcing them on the ground, disarming them, the whole bit—before realizing they're all on the same side. Apparently, the Americans are a lot more on edge than the Brits.
Quote #6
ELDRIDGE: I was scared.
WILL: Yeah? Well, everyone's a coward about something, you know? You're good. You're real good.
When Eldridge and Will are getting drunk together, Eldridge admits to the obvious: he was scared when they got into a shootout with some enemy combatants out in the desert. We assume Will is joking with the coward comment since being scared in a war zone is understandable. It's way different from the kind of garden-variety stuff that "everyone" could be a "coward about."
Quote #7
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.
Finally, we get the key to Will's ability not to be scared: he doesn't think. Makes sense, right? Cambridge has basically been trying to get Eldridge not to think for the entire film so that he can have a more positive perception of the war experience. That may help you survive, but are there negative consequences of not thinking?
Quote #8
SANBORN: I'm not ready to die, James.
WILL: Well, you're not going to die out here, bro.
This is probably the first time we've seen real fear from Sanborn about his own mortality. Naturally, Will just assures him that everything will be fine since Will doesn't seem to ponder the worst-case-scenario stuff too deeply.
Quote #9
WILL: Get your hands up.
TRANSLATOR: He says he has a family, please help him.
WILL: Now, listen, look, it'd be a lot easier for me to disarm this if I just shoot you, do you understand? Alright, what's he saying?
TRANSLATOR: He says, "I don't wish to die. I have a family. Please take this off me."
WILL: Well, tell him to put his hands behind his head or I'll be very happy to shoot him. Look, that's not what I said. Tell him to put his hands behind his head or I will shoot him.
In this case, both Will and the man he's helping seem jumpy. Well, actually, the man Will is helping is outright terrified since he has a bomb strapped to him, and Will seems to be on edge because he's having trouble getting the guy to comply with directions through a translator.