We always forget that it exists, but this gem had a snack on ‘Avatar’: one of the best war movies of all time with four Marvel stars

At the 2010 Oscars, “In Hostile Ground” passed the top-grossing film of all time without breaking a sweat, winning in six categories. But sometimes we forget about the spectacular film by Kathryn Bigelow.

Summit Entertainment

It may be a bit strange to admit that an acclaimed film that won six Oscars, including the one that recognized it for Best Picture, has fallen somewhat into oblivion almost 14 years later. In fact, despite its wide critical acclaim and being considered a commercial success in terms of revenue versus budget, The hurt Locker it didn’t bring many people to movie theaters. The total collection of the film by Kathryn Bigelow was 49 million dollars worldwide, compared to the 15 million that the production of her had cost. Some discreet figures, which in Spain translated to 3.9 million,

At the box office level, The hurt Locker did not earn mainstream success status and, although the reasons are not clear, it may have to do with the fact that the central axis of the film was the war in Iraq. A conflict that was prominent in the news at the end of the 2000s and was highly criticized in many parts of the world, while the American population thought differently. As a reminder, in fact, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore was once booed at the Oscars for his criticism of the Iraq war, a situation that would be unthinkable today that so vividly symbolizes American patriotism in the 2000s.

However, although Hollywood movies on the subject often gave the impression that the war was treated too uncritically, it would be unfair to The hurt Locker in the same bag.

What is ‘In Hostile Land’ about?

In the middle of the Iraq war, morale sinks because the war seems endless. There are no breaks and members of the US military constantly believe that their lives are in danger. However, the elite unit of the United States Bomb Disposal Squad he is at particular risk, and in fact, his supervisor Matt Thompson (Guy Pearce) is killed during a deactivation. Although he quickly finds a successor in Master Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), the event and change completely upsets the order in the unit.

Addicted to adrenaline and not fond of teamwork, the arrival of James is not pleasant for anyone And as a result, Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) find it difficult to operate under them, no matter how skilled they are at their jobs, so it doesn’t take long for serious tensions to rise, making it difficult for them to work together. day to day of the war and unnecessarily endanger the group during operations.

Bigelow’s anti-Top Gun

If you are one of those people who until now have ignored this movie because the topic of the Iraq war does not appeal to you, change the chip. Because The hurt Locker views the conflict quite critically and is also universal in focus: as is typical of Bigelow, this war drama focuses on the masculine psyche but filtered through its feminine gazesomething that is very present especially in how the director approaches the character of William James.

On paper, nothing distinguishes him from idiosyncratic, risk-taking military heroes like Tom Cruise’s Maverick in top gun or its numerous imitators in the action cinema of the 80s and 90s. In this film, however, James’ detachment from his staff and his unorthodox actions on the pitch are not glorifiedbut repeatedly serve as a voltage source.

But Bigelow doesn’t just rely on the element of conflict and tension: Rather than simply labeling James an unlikable leading man, the director also taps into his vulnerable sides and explains why, despite his flaws, he deserves our sympathy by capturing how his behavior not only harms those around him, but also his own mental well-being and giving Jeremy Renner the space for one of the best performances of his career.

Great suspense and four stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

One aspect that inevitably looks different today than it did in 2009 is, of course, the casting. Bigelow explained at the time that he deliberately put on unfamiliar faces for a higher level of unpredictabilitywhich is quite ironic considering that four of the film’s stars have held prominent roles in the biggest film franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

While Renner and Anthony Mackie are global stars and established Avengers, Evangeline Lilly has expanded her fame well beyond the fan base of lost also thanks to Marvel as the Wasp from the Ant-Man movie saga, and Guy Pearce also experienced it in iron Man 3.

But Bigelow’s staging of the Iraq war is even more impressive than some of the MCU’s high-octane moments. The director dispenses with the big shootings and frenzied raids and instead shows it as a series of constant threats that are hard to recognize and therefore all the more oppressive. The best example of this are the slowly unfolding, atmospherically dense deactivation scenes where you could slice the air with a knife.

And yes, in 2009 Avatar became the highest grossing film of all time with more than 2,000 million collections, but The hurt Locker It was completely eaten at the critical level and passed over it at the Oscars gala that year.

We would love to say thanks to the writer of this write-up for this awesome material

We always forget that it exists, but this gem had a snack on ‘Avatar’: one of the best war movies of all time with four Marvel stars