Didn’t really plan it that way, but we watched two Hollywood offerings about the Iraq war – Green Zone and The Hurt Locker.
First was going to watch Green Zone in the theater. If you didn’t get the memo, it’s the Matt Damon – Paul Greengrass combination that has been so effective in the last two Bourne films. It takes place in the very early days of the Iraq war when troops were recently in Baghdad, and searching for the elusive WMD. A cover up is revealed that pits intelligence assets against each other to discover or protect the deception.
Of course this is fictional. It’d be nice to think that things could work out this neat in what is mostly a single day. That’s the weakest link of the film, which has been enough to stop it from being a success. Otherwise, it’s a good film in most ways. I came away with it with it agreeing with the major premise that the war is founded of faulty reasoning with everyone being misled all the way. I’ll probably not feel compelled to watch it again, but I’m glad I did.
The Hurt Locker arrived via Netflix earlier that day in the wonderful Blu-Ray. Started it up for a late showing at home, ready to be amazed by what has been deemed as the best film of the year. I’m not sure if it was Iraq overload, or sincere disappointment, but it didn’t live up to my expectations in terms of directing, acting, or the overall movie.
I loved the opening sequence. I thought it set things up well and was very visually stunning with the high frame rate minutia that follows an explosion. I was looking forward to the rest of the film. So what happened? The rest of the film happened with very, very little of the stunning elements of the opening sequence.
It slowed. It got ridiculous (a gun jammed because of blood?). Then it seemed like it had to go too far because someone thought it would make a good movie. It tried to show more than a few faces of what it’s like in the war, but I feel like it was a half-ass attempt at most of it.
Upon absorbing it, I think the problem is that the story needed something more on the perspective or to be longer in its time-line to sink in. It could have been a great series, like some bomb squad meets Generation Kill. In terms of the less tangible something else – all the war movies before now that I respect have some perspective or narrative that hits harder than than The Hurt Locker did. So many other films have such stunning character development while showing its perspective on war.
What kind of irks me is this film won best picture. When a movie like Saving Private Ryan looses to a film like Shakespeare in Love, and The Hurt Locker wins over Avatar – something is not consistent in the academy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Avatar didn’t win… It’s just that The Hurt Locker isn’t remotely in the same league as Saving Private Ryan.