Kathryn Bigelow: Action Adventure Film Director

Female Filmmaker Dominates in a Traditionally Male Genre

Aug 31, 2009

In a career that has spanned more than two decades, Kathryn Bigelow has distinguished herself as one of Hollywood's most prolific film directors.

While the small number of female directors in Hollywood (Nora Ephron and Penny Marshall for example) have stuck primarily to cheesy chick flicks and sweet-as-pie romantic comedies, Kathryn Bigelow has consistently resisted studio pressure to deliver similar fare and has instead exercised her cinematic cojones in the testosterone-charged realm of action adventure.

Throughout her career Kathryn Bigelow has taken a cohesive, genre approach to filmmaking, following in the footsteps of such uber-masculine directors as Howard Hawks, Samuel Fuller, Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, and has delivered movies high in action and intensity. Her films are powerful vehicles that tend to toy with the mind, even as they send shockwaves through the body.

Unfortunately, few of her movies have ever managed to achieve any kind of financial success, so she's not exactly high on the list of the studio’s favorites. However, several of her films have generated passionate cult followings, including Near Dark, Strange Days and Point Break. While her films haven’t always been rewarded with box office success, she has earned the respect of fans, critics and fellow filmmakers alike.

Recurring Themes in Kathryn Bigelow Movies

With films like Near Dark and Point Break, Bigelow has made something of a specialty of investigating primarily male subcultures that revolve around ritualized aggression. She frequently examines how the rush of adrenaline that comes with danger can become a thrilling and often lethal addiction within these groups.

Kathryn Bigelow almost always explores the notion of family. While the "families" in Bigelow’s work are usually not of the traditional variety, they are families nonetheless. The vampires in Near Dark are dealing with "sibling" jealousy, and "parents" who try to hold everything together. The surfers in Point Break are a tightly knit unit, bound together by fierce loyalty to a father figure who ultimately betrays them and leads them down a lethal path. K-19: The Widowmaker is also about a "family": a group of men aboard a submarine who must work together in order to survive. The men of The Hurt Locker are essentially a band of brothers.

Katherine Bigelow’s films are highly stylized, and it’s no wonder. She entered filmmaking by way of the art world, attending the San Francisco Art Institute and studying painting, which eventually segued into film. Bigelow approaches the screen like a canvas, using the camera as a tool to bring viewers into an often unknown and cryptic world. Her bold and graphic artistic images can be seen throughout all her films.

Films Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow made her feature film debut as a director with this stylish homage to the 1954 classic The Wild One. Bigelow and co-director Monty Montgomery concentrate more on mood and character than story in this film, and while not adored by critics, it did showcase the distinct style of the young filmmaker. The film also marked the feature debut of actor Willem Dafoe.

With vivid moods and tones, Near Dark is a stylish and brutal mixture of horror, western, and action, with a touch of family drama. Near Dark won over the critics and is often regarded as one of the best vampire films ever made.

Blue Steel is an over-the-top police action-psychodrama with a decidedly feminist theme. Reviews were mixed at best, but Bigelow’s style is still evident in the Jamie Lee Curtis vehicle.

A rookie FBI agent goes undercover to thwart a gang of bank-robbing surfers in this high-intensity thrill ride. Point Break proved that Bigelow could deliver in the male-dominated genre of action-suspense. As per usual for a Bigelow film, reviews were mixed, but Point Break has gone on to become a huge cult classic.

Written and produced by her ex-husband James Cameron, Strange Days won many of the critics over, but the film failed to attract a major audience. A dystopian sci-fi action flick, it was Bigelow’s biggest financial flop.

Based on Anita Shreve's novel, The Weight of Water was not well received by critics, and it did poorly at the box office. The film is a portrait of two women trapped in asphyxiating relationships. The film is a departure in some ways for Bigelow, in that it doesn’t have the aggressive action or technical innovation of her previous films. But much like her other work, The Weight of Water explores relationships, and it shows her continued interest in families.

About a group of men aboard the Soviet Union's first nuclear powered submarine, K-19: The Widow-Maker stars Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. Despite an action-packed storyline and superb attention to detail, the film tanked at the box office and was received with mixed reactions by critics.

This film has received almost universal acclaim, and can thus far be considered her greatest film. Intense, riveting, and full of adrenaline The Hurt Locker is an action-packed war epic that tells its story using every visual, aural and sensory element the medium has to offer.

While Kathryn Bigelow is known as a great female director of action films, it’s a title she doesn’t really deserve. She should be known not as a great female director, but a great director; better yet, a great filmmaker. Because although it’s somewhat interesting to note that she is a woman in a genre dominated by men, her gender clearly has no bearing on her ability to tell a powerful story that gets the blood pumping.

The copyright of the article Kathryn Bigelow: Action Adventure Film Director in Action Films/Thrillers is owned by Lauren Flanagan. Permission to republish Kathryn Bigelow: Action Adventure Film Director in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.