film: The Hurt Locker

[Pharcyde]

excellent movie

 

[tambourine-man]

Pretty good in an entertaining "Call of Duty" kinda way. Not exactly Oscar material, but definitely enjoyed watching.

 

[wanderlust]

i enjoyed it. it was a glimpse into what most people in this country will not and have not gotten to experience.... i.e. an experience that changes you so much you are willing to give your life and leave your own family for it again.

 

[Benefit]

I thought it was well made with a small budget. I like the war junkie archetype, like Hoot from Black Hawk Down or the prayer saying sharpshooter from Saving Private Ryan, it plays well in a fictional character. Like most war movies, I didn't like the slow introspective segments that attempt to humanize our warrior friends. That pattern is so tired: action, soul seeking, action, soul seeking, action, soul seeking. The action was brilliant and suspenseful though. Very sharp acting.

It also did a good job of painting Iraq as a tangled up situation without getting into policy issues (which any movie would necessarily need to gloss over and therefore do a disservice to) and without making any overt statements about the overall war other than that things are messy. It wasn't the Best Picture of the year, but I've long ignored the Oscars when it comes to passing judgment on films.

 

[toa$t]

i liked it, but I just finished watching HBO's Generation Kill before hand. Generation Kill was very similar in many ways. And by similar, I mean better.

 

[sixpartseven]

^ Do they still play that on HBO or did you watch it on DVD?

 

[toa$t]

DLed it

 

[sixpartseven]

Ah, gotcha. I wanted to watch that show when it was on HBO, but didn't have it. I finally ordered the HBO package last night, so was wondering if it was on still.

Oh well. I'll catch it eventually.

Sorry for derailing the thread. I am now watching this movie for the 5th time at the moment with my fiance who hasn't seen it yet. She normally doesn't care for movies like this, but she likes it. She gives it 3 stars.

 

[jpgrdnr]

Good on Bigelow for winning Best Picture/Director.

In saying that though I don't think it should have won Best Picture - not that the Oscars are the end all to film awards. Sure, its pretty good and the competition is crap. District 9 and The Blind Side nominated for Best Picture? Good grief Charlie Brown!

She did deserve to win Best Director though hands down.

 

[sixpartseven]

I just love the fact that Bigelow is Cameron's ex-wife. That had to suck for him: the 11 million dollar movie that grossed barely 30 million (I think) beat the 250 million dollar film that grossed over a billion and is the highest grossing movie of all time, but not only that, the director of that 11 million dollar movie is the ex-wife of the director of the 250 million dollar film.

Insult to injury, I would say.

 

[mariacallas]

^^haha Cameron was sitting behind her the whole night with his current wife (and I should say, Bigelow looked TONS better than her!) Ahhhhh....the circle of life.

 

[toa$t]

yeah, I'm sure James Cameron was just HATING his life. poor bastard.

 

[AmorRoark]

^^haha Cameron was sitting behind her the whole night with his current wife (and I should say, Bigelow looked TONS better than her!) Ahhhhh....the circle of life.

Oh wow! I didn't realize his direct competition was his ex-wife.

They must still be on good terms if they were sitting so close to one another.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

yeah, I'm sure James Cameron was just HATING his life. poor bastard.

lol, my thoughts as well.

 

[Jackal]

I watched this before the Oscar ceremony the other night, to realise about twenty minutes in that I had seen it already, just not caught the name of it.

It's tense, well shot, good on-screen chemistry between the leads. Ending left me cold, especially that stupid fucking riff right at the end. I would say 3-4 stars. I voted 3.

 

[vegan]

District 9 and The Blind Side nominated for Best Picture?

i prefered district 9 to hurt locker

and the main actor in district 9 was damn good by the way (and it was his first film)
there should be an award for "main actor but not yet a superstar"

like Christoph Waltz
"supporting actor" wtf?
he's by far the main actor of the movie
i like brad pitt, but waltz could have been nominated for best actor, period

that said, i don't give a damn about the awards. just about the comments

 

[TheDeceased]

i prefered district 9 to hurt locker

Agreed, but District 9 was never going to get it. It was more of a nod than anything being nominated.

Hurt Locker wouldn't have been my first choice either but it's nice to see a woman get best picture (I think it's a first) and also, the film was pretty good. Far better than Avatar anyway.

like Christoph Waltz
"supporting actor" wtf?
he's by far the main actor of the movie

Good point. I didn't think of that when I heard he was nominated for supporting, but you're right. I mean, who of the male actors had the most screen time?

 

[Wizzle]

That sniper scene was close to impossible. I really liked the movie anyways. Lot's of great suspense! 4/5

 

[sixpartseven]

Why is it impossible? A lot of articles were saying that it was unreal because it portrayed Sanborne as being a Super-Soldier that can defuse IED's and kill insurgents from 1000 yards away. What they fail to realize is that soldiers can be trained in multiples skills. An EOD tech could be a sniper by trade, and vice versa. I personally know an Army medic who used to be a sniper, and a damn good one. He has many marksman/sharpshooter awards and medals, but wanted to get into the medical field and re-enlisted as a medic.

It's not likely that something like this would happen, but it's far from impossible.

Minor Spoiler...

NSFW:

The one aspect of that scene that I do agree is improbable - not impossible, though - was nailing the insurgent who started running after Sanborne missed. Hitting someone at 800 meters at a dead sprint would make even the most accomplished snipers very proud.

 

[MescalitoBandito]

It's easily the best film I've seen this year, and in many ways the most psychologically complex war film I've ever seen.