"Almost single-handed, Kathryn Bigelow has lastingly scotched the assumption that the terms ‘‘woman director’’ and ‘‘action movie’’ are somehow incompatible. So far, no other female director has shown herself so adept at handling the intricate ballets of stylised violence that constitute the modern Hollywood action genre… Her films, though vigorously paced and tinged with ironic humour, are shot through with a dark romanticism; and by delving deeper into formal, psychological, and thematic patterns than mainstream Hollywood generally cares to, they lift their material some way towards the condition of arthouse fare. Though Bigelow avowedly aims at a mass audience, the moral and aesthetic complexity of her films has kept her a slightly marginal figure in the industry." - Philip Kemp, International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers