Hurt Locker / A formidable opponent

Much like the rest of the country I did not see The Hurt Locker, but now with all the Oscar buzz how could you avoid it. So I made a trip to the local blockbuster and popped it in the DVD player.

The movie is every bit as good as the critics have been telling you it is. Kathryn Bigelow once again does a fantastic job delving into the psyche of men. This movie isn't trying to make a statement about war, it's not even important that the war takes place in Iraq, this is a search into the mind of a soldier.

Jeremy Renner does a fantastic job in the movie, while he may play the lead in the movie he is by no means a hero. He instead is a reckless action-junkie forcing Sgt. JT Sanborn and Spc. Owen Eldridge (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty respectively) to follow. It is more about getting his fix than saving lives because, as the movie states in the beginning: War is a drug, and Renner does a great job flirting with his addiction.

Some great cameo's in the movie include Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes, and David Morse which helps to grab the viewer's attention and adds to the tension which the movie is already full of. In fact the first half-hour of the movie is nothing but. Anyone can set off a bomb and make it look cool (read: Michael Bay), but Bigelow gives viewers intense feelings of heart-pounding exhilaration by praying that the bomb doesn't go off. That is what makes the movie the best of the year.

While there may be 10 movie fighting for the honor of Best Picture of the Year, it really only comes down to two movies The Hurt Locker and Avatar. And while there are some writers predicting Avatar to win, the inside track belongs to The Hurt Locker.

It was shocking to think that both movies received nine nominations as it was predicted that Avatar would have more and The Hurt Locker would get less. One award it was never considered for was Best Animated Movie of the Year and with so much of the movie done with CGI, including some of the main characters, could this movie have been nominated or am I just grasping for straws?

Visually Avatar has most likely set the bar for movies for the next decade, possibly further, which is why the movie received so many nominations. But its lack of nomination in acting and screenplay are glaring and important categories into what really makes a movie the best picture of the year.

The Hurt Locker has already won 53 different awards, including Best Picture from the Producer's Guild of America and Best Director from the Director's Guild of America. Meanwhile Avatar has not won any of the awards from the guilds and was not even nominated for the Screen Actor's Guild Awards. With only the Writer's Guild Awards left (Avatar will not win an award for it's script) that will make it 0 for 4. Why so much focus on the Guild's awards? No movie has ever won best picture without winning at least one of the major awards from one of these four ceremonies.

Kathryn Bigelow is the front-runner to receive the award for best director of the year, making her the first woman to ever win the award. More importantly looking at past trends 5 of the past 6 recipients of this award also had their movie win best picture.

If The Hurt Locker were to win it would become the lowest grossing winner ever. For the other side of the argument click here. But there is no argument, The Hurt Locker is the Best Picture of the Year, now we'll just have to wait to see if it actually gets the Oscar to back it up. A