I saw "The Hurt Locker" the day before the Oscars, and assumed it would be my favorite Best Picture nominee. It certainly seemed like the award represented a battle between Overrated Big-Budget Special-Effects-Laden Family Drama ("Avatar") and Scrappy, Meaningful, Edgy Indie That Smart People Prefer ("The Hurt Locker"). When those type of struggles arise, I'm usually 100% on the side of the indie, because my identity is very much wrapped up in being the smart person. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that "The Hurt Locker" sucked.
There were some good points. It was well-directed. It had a lot of great individual scenes involving bomb defusing and such. There was good detail about what that's really like. The problem was that the script sucked.
There was no plot, and the characters were one-note. The main character was this white guy who came in on an established unit and Played By His Own Rules. Yes, He Did Things His Way, was very irrevent, made bad-ass offhand quips, endangered everyone needlessly with pointless bravado, and wouldn't you know it? He always turned out to be right in the end!
Then on the sidelines, you have the black dude. He was always saying things like "Sir, don't you want the protective suit?!" "Sir, we have to get going -- we don't have much time!" "Come back here or I'm going to have to report you to the principal!" (OK, he didn't say that one. But I wouldn't have been surprised if he had.) Basically, he was the cautious, rule-bound one, the one who was actually following well-established protocols that I'm betting are there for a very good reason -- and he was always wrong in the end. He quickly became nothing but a foil for White Guy's preternatural super-awesomeness.
It's basically just the "Lethal Weapon" formula transported to bomb-disposal units in Iraq. You have the wild-ass white guy who runs on instinct, rules be damned. And then you have the cautious black dude being dragged along, muttering "I'm getting too old for this shit!" White guy's always right, but we love the black dude anyway, because he's so adorable, the way he approaches things in a sane, rational way that doesn't threaten everyone's lives! Aww, look at him try! He'll never be as good as the white guy, but maybe he can learn a thing or two by basking in his glow!
Even the non-bomb-disposal scenes only existed to reinforce this dynamic. They get drunk in one scene, and of course it's the black guy who passes out and has to be dragged to his bed. In the end (which I'm going to ruin for you, because there's not much to ruin anyway), White Guy and Black Guy have a heart-to-heart, which basically just involves Black Guy tearfully asking White Guy, "How come you're so awesome?" White Guy doesn't really answer, but I was yelling at the TV "Because this is a simple-minded hero-worship-fest, with no real characters or plot!"
Then White Guy went back to his boring family stateside, and nothing much happened, beyond White Guy realizing that he has to go back to Iraq. So that's it then -- that's all he is, a perfectly perfect bomb disposal machine. Yes, I get that would be really hard to adjust to normal life after such a dangerous year. But he doesn't really go through any sort of struggle to come to his conclusion to return. The whole sequence only reinforces that he's not so much a character as a cliche.
The real best film of the year, by the way, was "Up in the Air." Or maybe "Up," which I didn't see, but probably got immediately disqualified in most people's minds because it doesn't fit the profile of a best picture (i.e., it's animated). I think most voters didn't even really consider either movie. I think they got caught by the Big-Budget Special Effects-Fest vs. Edgy Indie dichotomy, picked their sides, and that was that. It's a shame.
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10 comments:
dd you see inglourious basterds? I liked it.
I haven't seen Up in the Air yet, but I am skeptical of Up, due to my problem with children's movies. I know I am in the minority, but I still haven't seen a children's movie that I've really been into. Not that there aren't some children's movies that are pretty good and entertaining. They're just not my favorites, I guess.
But I agree with your criticism of Hurt Locker. I mean, there were some amazing scenes in that movie, but the characters and the dialog were really lacking.
Hi, I am Emily's friend by the way, anyway, I agree with come of your commentary on Hurt Locker. It has its flaws to be certain, but I think it made a great point about war that say lethal weapon does not make about drug smugglers or south africans... and that point is the qualities that supposedly made this guy an awesome soldier/bomb guy made him a pretty shitty human being. I think that is the point they were trying to get across that lethal weapon cannot: The perfect warrior (or in this case bomb dismantler) makes for a shitty human being, and I think that says a lot about war in general. To excel at it, you must give up some of your humanity... the black guy wants and the other white specialist want theirs back and to get the hell out, whereas the main guy didnt have it to begin with and discovers a place where his disfunctional ass belongs... anyway, thats my take, nice post
Oh my god, it's JB! How did he get here? The internet is crazy! That is an interesting take on the Hurt Locker. I guess I was seeing it from the side of people who are good at stuff feel like they can be assholes instead of being an asshole sometimes paves the way to being good at stuff. In the interest of full disclosure, I also slept through a little bit of this movie.
Well, what I hated most about the movie is that he wasn't seen as a shitty human being, or even anything that complex -- he was seen as the Most Perfectly Perfect Human Being Who Ever Lived. After two hours of that, the scenes at home just seemed dull. He didn't seem like a shitty human being at home, just a bored one who can't adjust to normal life and didn't really want to try. So there is a lesson there about war creating people who can't live in normal life, but that was a half-assed message they awkwardly tacked on at the very end, after two hours of "White Guy Is Awesome!"
It actually would have been better if he came home and beat his wife or something -- obviously not "better" in the sense that that would be any way pleasurable to watch, but because it would really be a jarring indication that Mr. Perfect on the Battlefield is actually a terrible person at home. And it would have undercut the "White Guy Is Awesome" theme in a big-ass way. I guess I'm saying that scenes at home just made home look too uncool for Mr. Perfect.
I didn't see any of these movies and, in fact, wasn't even aware there were academy awards this year. Actually, I saw Avatar. But anyway, since this IS the World Wide Web Log of Pointless Ramblings, I thought I'd just muse on the different tools and techniques for keeping a basement dry, from sump pumps to buckets and mops to dehumidifiers....
No, seriously, I agree with all of you. Totally.
Chris, he got home and basically stared at his son and said there is only 1 thing I love and it isn't you. I would say that makes for a shitty human being. Also you say he "didnt really want to try" I think someone who doesnt want to try to be home with their wife and kid after Iraq is a shitty human being too.
If you watched the movie and came away that this guy was Mr. Awesome only, you were missing something, he was a jerk in Iraq (i.e. getting the specialist shot in the femur when there was absolutely no need for it) and a horrible human being at home.
I guess I am halfway between the opinions of JB and Chris, I disagree with Anonymous, and would like to hear more from Amy about basements.
JB, it's not that I was missing something -- I understand where you're coming from. I of course recognize that that's a horrible thing to say to your son. But I just felt that after two hours of hero worship (getting that one dude shot being a too-short hint that he might not be totally perfect), and then displaying home as being dull and weird, the movie was actually saying that home life is boring and lame, and that bomb defusing was cooler than being home and taking care of your kid, which of course was rather offensive. It's just a different interpretation of the scene.
I think Anonymous has a good point about casinos also.
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