After months of hearing how amazing “The Hurt Locker” is from every awarding organization in existence, I finally got around to checking out Kathryn Bigelow’s “war is hell, unless you’re addicted to it” drama. And while I’m not ready to declare it best picture of the year, I certainly enjoyed the hell out of it.
The tighter-than-a-drum script was brought to vivid life by Bigelow’s direction — but I feel that the film truly explodes thanks to the three lead actors’ performances. Jeremy Renner’s cocky swagger stands in perfect contrast to Anthony Mackie’s by-the-book behavior, while Brian Geraghty’s ready-to-snap jitters fill every one of his scenes with enough tension to break a steel bar in two.
Their characters not only work wonderfully as a team on screen, but the actors’ performances ricochet off one another making me wonder why we’re not seeing more love for Anthony and Brian in the supporting actor categories.
Over the weekend, Bigelow, Renner and the film were named 2009’s best by the National Society of Film Critics, echoing every other voting bodies’ nominations/victors until this point. But once again, Jeremy’s on-screen subordinates were left out in the cold.
At this point Brian’s performance has received zero solo nominations and Anthony’s has received two nominations (Independent Spirit Awards and Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards) while Jeremy’s racked up five wins and five nominations. Now, I’m in no way saying that Jeremy isn’t deserving of the accolades … but I’d love to hear one of the other guy’s names (particularly Brian’s) announced in the wee hours of Feb. 2 at the 2010 Oscar nomination ceremony!
Decide for yourself when “The Hurt Locker” hits DVD on Jan. 12!
Photo: Summit Entertainment