THE HURT LOCKER: BAFTA’s Big Winner

Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan. Surprises and non-surprises at the BAFTAs, held Sunday evening at London's Royal Opera House. Mostly non-surprises.

The fact that The Hurt Locker beat Avatar wasn't really a surprise. The Iraq War drama about a team of bomb disposal experts is also the odds-on favorite to win the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards following its Producers Guild, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild wins. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the BAFTA Award for Best Director, a feat she's supposed to repeat in a couple of weeks when she'll almost inevitably become the first woman to win an Oscar in the Best Director category.

"My heart's beating so fast I can barely talk," Bigelow said upon accepting her award. "I think the secret to directing is collaboration, and I was so lucky to have an incredible cast and crew. This is deeply moving — we all felt an incredible responsibility to honor the courage of the men and women in the field." She added: "I would like to dedicate this to the cause of never abandoning the hunt to find a resolution for peace." The filmmaker then choked up and walked away from the mike.

Other The Hurt Locker winners were Mark Boal (Best Original Screenplay) and Barry Ackroyd (Best Cinematography), in addition to winners in the Best Editing and Best Sound categories. The Hurt Locker won a total of six out of its eight nominations. (The other two were for Best Actor — Jeremy Renner — and Best Visual Effects.)

Avatar, directed by James Cameron, with whom Bigelow was married for a couple of years in the late '80s, won two awards out of its eight nominations: Best Visual Effects and Best Production Design.

Pete Docter's Up won in two categories: Best Music (Michael Giacchino) and Best Animated Feature. The film is a favorite in both categories for the Oscars as well. Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner were the expected winners in the Best Adapted Screenplay for Up in the Air. In all likelihood, they'll also be taking home individual Oscar statuettes in a couple of weeks.

No surprises in the categories honoring supporting performances: Christoph Waltz (for Inglourious Basterds) and Mo'Nique (for Precious) were the winners. Both have been winning awards just about everywhere in the United States. "This award is a very big deal," Precious director Lee Daniels said while collecting the absentee Mo'Nique's trophy. "We didn't know how this film was going to be received overseas."

The Young Victoria won two expected awards as well: Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hair. In the historical drama, Emily Blunt stars as Queen Victoria.

And finally, another award that should have been as expected as could be: The Twilight Saga's Kristen Stewart won the Orange Rising Star Award, voted by The People for The People.

Photo: The Hurt Locker (Jonathan Olley / Summit Entertainment)