Smart Hollywood: The Hurt Locker is an Oscar Must-See
Making its debut on shiny dvd/blu-ray this week is one of 2009’s best, The Hurt Locker. The timing of its release this week on home video is no coincidence. It’s being released just as the 2010 award season begins to pick up some serious steam with this weekend’s Golden Globe Awards, where THL has 3 nominations – Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), and Best Screenplay (Mark Boal).
Based on THL’s performance at the U.S. box office in 2009 where it has grossed just over $12.5 million to date (or to put it this way, that total is $3 million less than what Avatar grossed at the box office in just one day this past Sunday), it is apparent that most of you have yet to see THL. Shame on you. But with this week’s home video release, you have no excuse to miss out from the comfort of your own couch. On the big screen, watching THL was a visceral, intense and ultimately unforgettable movie-going experience. I’ve yet to watch it again on my wide-screen (this weekend maybe?), however I’m willing to bet that the power of the film will remain intact. Because the film is so intimate in its depiction of a three-man bomb disposal unit, deployed in Iraq and trying to make it through their tour of duty without getting all blown up first, I have a feeling the film could very well be even more intense and powerful when viewed from home.
THL isn’t a big budget spectacle that will be compromised by its viewing on television – although that said, the action set pieces in THL rival anything seen on the screen in 2009. Much of the credit for that goes to the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow has directed a number of films over the past 20 years, the most successful of those being Point Break (a classic in my eyes, but then again how could any film where Keanu Reeves plays an injured, former star QB / current FBI agent who goes undercover as a surfer in order to penetrate a gang of bank robbers known as the Ex-Presidents that is led by Patrick Swayze in a Ronald Reagan mask, not be considered a classic? Some questions are not meant to be answered).
With THL, Bigelow has reached new heights in her career and has emerged as an early Oscar favorite to take home the Best Director award. That would be a huge achievement for many reasons, the most notable being that she would be the first female director ever (yes, EVER) to win the top prize in motion picture directing. In fact, to date including Bigelow, only 4 women have been nominated in this category – Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), and Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003). Making this year’s Best Director race even more intriguing is that Bigelow’s chief competition during Award season is shaping up to be from the king of the world and also of other-world’s featuring ten foot tall blue creatures, James Cameron. It just so happens that Bigelow and Cameron were married once upon a time (from 1989-1991), but the split was quite amicable and publicly they remain huge supporters of each other. So those anticipating an Oscar season built for TMZ may be disappointed, but the race for Best Director will nevertheless be a fascinating one to keep your eyes on.
Simply put, aside from being a must-view for movie-lovers everywhere, THL is also a must-see for anyone who hopes to do any handicapping this award season. The film is sure to garner multiple Oscar nominations across the board. THL has already been named Best Picture of 2009 by a majority of the nation’s film critics’ societies including the NY, LA, National and Online film critics’ societies. As for acting award recognition, Jeremy Renner, who stars in the film as the obsessed thrill-seeking Seargent James, is a serious contender for Best Actor, and his co-stars, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty, are each possible and worthy candidates for Best Supporting Actor. And the film’s director, the mighty Bigelow, may soon be able to call herself the Queen of the World. I’d like to see that happen.
Jonathan Fuhrman is a lawyer and former studio exec who writes the “Smart Hollywood” column for Mediaite. Find him on Twitter @smarthollywood, and reach him at smarthollywood@gmail.com.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
