Double Feature Review: (500) Days of Summer AND The Hurt Locker

Even though my last couple of posts have been focused on accolades in general, I have realized that it's neccesary to return to my earlier review format.

In this post, I will be reviewing two films which I have recently viewed: the romantic "comedy" (500) Days of Summer, and the Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker. Despite the varied subject matter, the two movies are similar in that their stories are entirely realistic, and this pervading sense of realism can sometimes be uncomfortable to watch. We usually go to the movies to see things that help us escape from reality, not face it. However, the movies that DO make us face our everyday lives are sometimes the most important ones.

(500) Days of Summer follows the 500-day relationship between Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel). The romance has its many highs and lows, but what is interesting is the non-chronological narrative. Since the film skips around to many points in Tom and Summer's relationship, we get a dizzying blend of the different emotions experienced between the two, rather than a linear, more straightforward progression. I personally fell in love with the narrative style, and I feel that it is these kinds of changes in presentation that will allow movies to evolve, instead of becoming overladen with CGI effects.

However, not meaning to spoil, I have to say that the film does NOT have a happy ending. Though it starts out as the well-worn story of two typical lovers (who, in this case, meet at the office), things quickly begin to go sour for Tom. Though he is convinced that he loves her, Summer's feelings for him begin to wane as the 500 days progress. Though I became angry when the relationship between the two didn't work out, it made me marvel at the power of the film; that I could become so wrapped up in the storyline that I truly wanted these two characters to be together. However, the film is also very honest in this way. Relationships often aren't perfect, and this is why the film seems so relatable.

Though it is a phenomenal film, part of me still wishes that (500) Days of Summer was a little more sweet than bitter.

9/10

On the other hand, Oscar buzz has been growing for Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. Entertainment Weekly currently considers the war film to be the front-runner for both the Best Picture and Best Director. However, when I saw The Hurt Locker it did not have a tremendous impact on me; at least not the same kind of impact that made me so sure that Slumdog Millionaire would take away the Best Picture last year.

The Hurt Locker follows a bomb defusion squad in the Iraq War. Straight from the get-go, the movie thrusts you into an incredibly tense world, where death could await you at every corner. In this regard, the movie is a triumph, because it accurately depicts the war situation in a way no film has before. When reading an interview with Bigelow, she also commented on how she didn't want the film to have a political subtext. Though I didn't notice this when initially watching the film, I have to say that the lack of government jargon really helps you to focus on the war more for the combat itself, instead of the motives.

Unfortunately, the film falls short in making emotional connections. Though I can't help but root, while remain fearful, for the entire squad, I feel that I would do the same for any human being in their situation. It's hard to stay truly sympathetic with the characters, because we have very few glimpses of their actual emotions; we only see how they act under the intense pressure of war.

This is why I am baffled by Jeremy Renner's Oscar nomination. He certainly offers a fine portrayal of how a man acts in such an atrocious situation, but I can't latch on to his character of William James (or really any character in the movie, for the matter), or at least not in the way I can latch onto Tom or Summer.

Although the lack of character development probably revolves around the relatively sparse script, I still don't feel it has the kind of lasting, emotional power to merit a Best Picture win. Although the movie makes you cringe, and pity the poor soldiers who are working to promote democracy in the Middle East, a deep connection with the movie is difficult to sustain.

Instead, I am still rooting for this year's other pre-eminent war picture: Inglourious Basterds.

8/10