Wednesday 15 February 2012

the hurt locker (2008) - kathryn bigelow







Although l enjoyed The Hurt Locker, it still fell into the old cliché of having a maverick (William James - played by Jeremy Renner) having issues, being a loner, working to his own methods, and  putting others in danger (but obviously getting results), to such an extent, his performance felt like a parody (although it was praised by most).
The film was also let down by some of the unbelievable sequences, such as James going out of the compound by himself looking for a child's killers, and also persuading his two colleagues to give chase where they think a bomber is hiding (it's best if we split up'), without informing anyone else, and after being told that 'It's infantry's job').
There is enough tension involved with the areas and situations that they were put in, let alone the dismantling of the bombs, without having to go down the same route as so many other movies.
I thought they should have just shown the squad at an arbitrary point in time, and the tensions they are under. Squad members (not those sort of members) could have been fired at and blown up at random, with no great rhyme or reason, and new blood shown taking their places. Then, you would have ongoing, relentless tension, as you would never be who (if any) would survive any of the incidents (like at the beginning of the film).
The film could also just end at a random point, with more new squad members arriving (or straight after another death), to highlight that the insanity just goes on.
I should have been involved in sorting this out before it was made, it would have been so much better and hard hitting. Ah well, close but no cigar.
Next time, they should call me first.

toodle pip


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