The term "hurt locker", made famous by Kathryn Bigelow's 2008 Oscar-winning film, is genuine US military slang referring to a serious injury or a dangerous situation to be avoided. Screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded as a war correspondent with US troops in Iraq around 2004, drew the film's title and much of its dialogue directly from soldiers' own language, giving the film an authenticity that resonated even as it proved divisive on release.

Boal told the New Yorker that the phrase was used in Baghdad to describe being caught in a bomb blast, adding that while it can mean slightly different things to different people, it always points to somewhere "you don't want to be". The film, starring Jeremy Renner, won six Academy Awards and offered a harrowing depiction of the Iraq war without becoming overtly pro- or anti-war propaganda, though many veterans criticised it for practical inaccuracies despite praising its authentic feel.