I was disappointed in The Hurt Locker. The movie meanders for 130 minutes which is about 30 minutes too long in my book. Jeremy Renner plays Sargent Will James, leader of a bomb squad in Iraq. We follow the bomb squad on various missions. We see the grim results of IEDs. The film counts down the number of days the guys have until their tour of duty is over. That’s pretty much it. Too much dead time robbed The Hurt Locker of any suspense. And, really, there’s no plot here. It’s just incident piled upon incident, one damn thing after another. No surprises, except how did this movie get nominated for BEST PICTURE…and WIN? GRADE: C
I haven’t seen it yet but I have seen the bloated cliché ridden AVATAR and I’m surprised that was nominated. Special effects notwithstanding.
The Academy Awards went south so many years ago that it’s now completely out of touch.
I think the GOLDEN GLOBE awards are closer to reality, David.
I was surprised at THE HURT LOCKER’s Best Picture win (although, for a variety of reasons, I had expected Kathryn Bigelow to win Best Director). My husband commented that LOCKER’s Best Picture win seemed more of a giant f*ck-you to James Cameron than saying anything special about the movie itself.
I agree with your husband, Deb. THE HURT LOCKER was the lowest grossing BEST PICTURE in Oscar history (when adjusted for inflation). I think THE HURT LOCKER will be forgotten in 10 years. And we’ll be all talking about AVATAR 5.
I can see what you mean here, but to me, it perfectly captured the tedium, look and squalor of war. And also its consequences on those who fight it. It wasn’t a fun movie, but I thought it got at a truth.
In Real Life, Patti, that bomb team would have blown up William James for risking their lives so recklessly (happened in Vietnam regularly). Yes, it captured the tedium of warfare, but it didn’t have to be sooooo tedious.
I liked it much better than you. Personnaly I like Inglorious Basterds better. But nothing this year stood out as a classic. Just glad that bloated bore Avatar didn’t win.
I really liked GREEN ZONE, Steve.
Let’s not forget, George loved VALENTINE’S DAY.
😉
I liked HURT LOCKER too, Patti.
You will REALLY love GREEN ZONE, Jeff.