The infamous “triple threat” – Day 9 Gothenburg International Film Festival Part 2 of 30

I don’t know if it was the fact that I saw The Hurt Locker (2008) at the tail end of a long stretch, or if it just simply is so, but I left highly unimpressed with the movie on several fronts. For starters I have qualms with films dropping in big name stars and then quickly thereafter dispatching them, somehow it comes off as a cheap ploy. However, with that being said it was somewhat of a relief  and quite acceptable to see Guy Pearce get “ganked” directly from the get go, since I had been dreading his presence in the film since reading the cast overview. I also have qualms with Bigelow’s attempts at adding emotional commentary to scenes where they don’t really make sense or belong, aka the entire film. These occur at several various junctures in the film, perhaps reading as they should, i.e. perfect for stupid “uber” macho men, practitioners of oppressing emotions, who will watch the film and appreciate this kind of surface banter about a serious subject. But for people who are in touch with their emotions, well it reads like a mentally handicapped person saying simply “I am sad!” These ploys were acceptable in a film like Point Break (1991) because it was never the intent of the film to portray anything completely in a realistic fashion. However, in The Hurt Locker this is exactly why they backfire. This kind of shallow emotionality just feels out of place with the rest of the picture in its attempts to be “realistic”.

What the film does do well, its potential shining point, is how Bigelow uses the environment coupled with her technical abilities in order to really make the viewer feel what it’s like to be in certain situations or conditions: the dryness of the desert, the overall miserable conditions present in a Baghdad, the sweatiness of disarming a bomb. The sound as well, at least in the theatre I screened the movie in, seemed really well done lending a lot of “thunder” to the film, for lack of better words. Overall I would say these technical aspects make the movie worth watching, as one can learn a great deal from them. For me, a person who is interested in one day making films, this is worth the price of admission. However, if you are interested in some kind of emotional response to the film or caring for its protagonists you’re wasting your money by investing it in The Hurt Locker.