tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685634083080876125.post7662133260180063036..comments2023-11-03T07:24:19.298+00:00Comments on Film Intel: The Hurt Locker - DVD ReviewSam Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05696602364349746693noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685634083080876125.post-91965406864447771662010-05-19T11:20:54.702+01:002010-05-19T11:20:54.702+01:00Thanks for taking the time to comment after postin...Thanks for taking the time to comment after posting your own review Vance.<br /><br />Boal and Bigelow have spoken (since, I believe, I published this review) about the Fiennes scene and revealed that it was only there in order to get him into the movie, thus helping to secure funding and distribution.<br /><br />This is problematic for me for two reasons, the first being the fact that it obviously backs up both mine and Vance's criticism of the films structure as difficult and secular, rather than something which is easier to follow.<br /><br />It's also a problem when I go back to my original point about the scene. Whatever your opinion on the scene in this case there IS a trope, or at least a reacurrence, in American movies of the American troops wading in to save the Brits. Boal knew he had to include Fiennes in a scene and this is what he thought of...<br /><br />Having said that, the only place I can find the reference to Boal saying this is at the end of this article (http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2010/02/14/screenwriters_talk_hurt_locker_precious_up_in_the_air_star_trek1/) where he claims that Fiennes rejected a scene with him as a British ambassador which admittedly damages my second point slightly but rather proves the first one.<br /><br />I don't think it's a political statement about the Iraq war in anyway, I just think it's unfortunate stereotyping and unoriginal screenwriting.<br /><br />I agree with you about respecting the film by the way. I still gave in 3*, I still enjoyed it, I appreciate what it was trying to do; I just also thought it had some significant problems.Sam Turnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05696602364349746693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685634083080876125.post-29021842195080409362010-05-18T22:37:45.507+01:002010-05-18T22:37:45.507+01:00Coming at this several months later in the wake of...Coming at this several months later in the wake of my own revisitation of The Hurt Locker, I of course agree with most of your points. <br /><br />And not to pick on you, MH, but I actually don't like something about the whole "war is a drug" thing -- that they had to spell it out for us with an on-screen quote before the action started. (So that's not picking on you, I guess, but picking on the filmmaker's inability to be subtle, in this case at least.) Didn't she (Bigelow) or he (Boal), or whoever was responsible for that, think that we would get that idea without them having to spell it out so blatantly?<br /><br />I think it's very easy to respect a lot about this film, and it's a film I'd like to love more than I actually love it. I also don't think pointing out its flaws ultimately detracts too much from it, it just opens up good discussions. As you say, it was released in June, not when Oscar movies are usually released. This was a small film that went far, but it started out as a small film for a reason. Thumbs up from me, but not enthusiastically. <br /><br />Oh, and I actually enjoyed the scene with Ralph Fiennes et al, and didn't see a particular political overtone to it. But as I said in my own review, it was almost problematic that I enjoyed this scene, because it doesn't have much to do with the rest of the movie. If you're going with the idea that every scene in a movie should contribute to the whole, this scene doesn't, really.Derek Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13750747272647975591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685634083080876125.post-17757334531843494782010-01-06T19:50:24.129+00:002010-01-06T19:50:24.129+00:00I read both your reviews of it and take your point...I read both your reviews of it and take your points on board. I'll definitely watch it again because it's featured in nearly every 'list of the year' I've seen so I'm willing and open to get something else out of it on repeat viewings. <br /><br />I to am not taking too much out of the Brit/American scene and I'm definitely not accusing it of being a political comment (nor was I trying to make one... attempting to tread very carefully here!). It's a trope that has appeared for many a year (not just in American films) and while The Hurt Locker is too intelligent to indulge in it I just didn't think it needed to be there to re-enforce previous examples if anyone was so minded to make an argument down that road.<br /><br />Was aware I hadn't expressed that little comment very well so hope that is now as clear as only slightly muddy water!Sam Turnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05696602364349746693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685634083080876125.post-27140436701410323242010-01-06T17:57:20.716+00:002010-01-06T17:57:20.716+00:00Interesting. I thought not only that this was the ...Interesting. I thought not only that this was the best film of the year, but also one of the very best of the decade on the whole.<br /><br />I was more drawn in by the point that war is a drug, and that there are in fact people out there who thrive in those sorts of twisted conditions even though they can barely tie their own shoelaces when you get them back home.<br /><br />I wouldn't make too much of the scene where they help out The Brits...they were helping mercenary bounty hunters, not an actual UK platoon. America owes a lot to England for their help in this mission, I doubt anyone could make veiled jabs.<br /><br />I can't persuade you to give it another watch in a little while, can I?Ryan McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440134802928893661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685634083080876125.post-36384642987976939202010-01-06T17:32:14.731+00:002010-01-06T17:32:14.731+00:00I had a lot of the same feelings as you did while ...I had a lot of the same feelings as you did while watching it up until the grocery store scene. Here we have a man, who with no thought at all, can dissect, disarm, and save the lives of hundreds. You ask him to go to the grocery store and get cereal and he's lost. For me that spoke leaps and bounds about his character. And this got a lot better on a 2nd viewing because of it all.Univarnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01437654003558435749noreply@blogger.com