The Oscars put a hurting on Avatar on Sunday night as Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War thriller The Hurt Locker upset the highest-grossing movie of all time to take home awards for best picture and director. The film won a total of six Oscars, including Mark Boal's original screenplay.

Bigelow also made history by becoming the first woman to win a directing Oscar.

"There's no other way to describe it: It's the moment of a lifetime," Bigelow said in accepting her Oscar for best director. She dedicated her award to "the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis."

The Avatar-Hurt Locker showdown was framed as a sort of David vs. Goliath battle, with big-bucks eye candy facing off against a lean film that has grossed only $14 million in the States, the least ever for a best-picture winner. Avatar, by contrast, has topped $2.5 billion worldwide. A split between best picture and best director was widely foreseen heading into the evening.

But there will be no partying on Pandora: This night, which saw 10 films vying for the top prize instead of the usual five, was all about The Hurt Locker.

For Bigelow, a master of the action genre with films including Point Break, Near Dark and Strange Days under her belt, The Hurt Locker's strong showing was a welcome and overdue acknowledgement of a long, robust and often overlooked career. It was also a reminder that global phenomenon status doesn't ensure Oscar glory.

There were no surprises in any of the acting categories. As expected, Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart ) took home the two lead awards. Mo'Nique (Precious) and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) were deemed the cream of the supporting crop. If you had them in your Oscar pool you might have won big money – if only everyone else didn't have them, too.

"I would like to thank the Academy for showing it can be about the performance and not the politics," said Mo'Nique, who was scorned in some quarters for refusing to campaign for Precious. Mo'Nique, who brought emotional shading to her role as the abusive mom from hell, also thanked Hattie McDaniel, the first black actor to win an Oscar (1939's Gone With the Wind).

Bridges, whose performance as grizzled country music vet Bad Blake earned him his first Oscar after four previous nominations, struck a Dude-like note in paying tribute to his showbiz family. No official count on use of the word "man," but it was generously sprinkled throughout his acceptance speech.

"Thank you, mom and dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession," he enthused before letting out a little cackle and thanking a litany of others, including Crazy Heart's director, Scott Cooper.

Smaller upsets were chalked up in the screenplay brackets. Inglourious Basterds looked like a good bet to win Quentin Tarantino his second writing Oscar (after Pulp Fiction), but Boal snuck in and got The Hurt Locker off to a strong start.

Up in the Air, so widely touted a few months back, ended up with an Oscar goose egg.

Avatar finished with three Oscars, for cinematography, visual effects and art direction. Other multiple winners included Precious (supporting actress and adapted screenplay) and Up (animated film and original score).