Hurt Locker (2008) - Epitome of overhype

Creators:
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (still haven’t seen Point Break but have only heard good things), written by Mark Boal, who also wrote In the Valley of Elah.

Not doing the usual lot of questions because it was a bit of a fail film for me. Just gonna ramble on a little

Finally came through LoveFilm despite it being one of the first films on there (about a year ago). It obviously came with all the baggage of having won best film at the Oscars. I should disclaim that even having not seen it, I wanted Avatar to win, as it just seemed a bigger movie event, which will be remembered for decades, whereas Hurt Locker just seemed it would be forgotten, as much more sophisticated texts dealing with the Iraq war obfuscate its significance. Already I would say that something like the TV series Generation Kill is much more apt to deal with the subject matter. It's one of those things that reinforces my taste for films that are either trashy, pulp genre, with all the mythic pop-culture significance, or at the other end of the spectum, pretentiously obscure. Films in the middle rarely get me as hyped, which is where I think the Hurt Locker sits; not big enough to be cool, not real enough to be genuine. The Iraqi kid was by far the most interesting element, but for a genuine look at post invasion Iraq, I would rather watch Mohammed Al-Daradji's Son of Babylon or Bahman Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly.

The characters all seemed so obvious and wooden. The British characters in particular were so cliched, typecast and unengaging. I really cannot see how it was awarded best film.

Rant over.