(2012 - January 11, 2013 USA)
Action | Drama | History
2 hr. 37 min.
Rated: R Language, Brutal Disturbing Images and Strong Violence Information for parents: Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+. Read More
Grade: B+
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal (screenplay)
Stars: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton and Chris Pratt | See full cast and crew
The Academy Award-winning duo behind The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow
and Mark Boal) reteams for this drama detailing the hunt for Osama bin
Laden, and starring Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain as the intelligence
expert who dedicated a decade of her life to tracking down the world's
most wanted terrorist. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, the CIA began interrogating suspected Al-Qaeda agents
across the globe in a bid to locate the elusive bin Laden. Upon
arriving at a CIA black site and witnessing the brutal interrogation
tactics firsthand, driven CIA operative Maya (Chastain) aids her
unpredictable colleague Dan (Jason Clarke) in gathering the intelligence
that will help bring bin Laden to justice. Over the course of the next
decade, numerous false leads and dead ends make the search seem more
futile than ever. Meanwhile, numerous suicide bombings all across the
Middle East and Europe hint that Al Qaeda won't go down without a fight.
Then, just when it seemed as if the trail of clues had finally dried
up, an old piece of evidence leads Maya to a suspect who may work
directly for the man charged with planning the worst act of terrorism
ever committed on American soil. Joel Edgerton, Edgar Ramirez, Mark
Strong, Chris Pratt, and James Gandolfini co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan,
Rovi
Knowing the the team behind The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow
and Mark Boal, was also the creative teams behind Zero Dark Thirty,
I was skeptical. I hated the former film and was not looking forward to
a 2 hr. 37 min. leftist propaganda film/Obama campaign video. I was
pleasantly surprised. It is a serviceable, well made film and
interesting once it gets going and far less political than I had
anticipated (not to say that it isn't). Aside from the earliest scenes
where it threatens to become a relentless liberal harangue over
interrogation methods and torture, it ends up being somewhat ambiguous.
Zero Dark Thirty,
is a small step above a good made for TV movie. None of the characters
are written with any depth with the exception of the 'star' Maya
(Jessica Chastain) and unfortunately her performance is hollow and
forced and tends to drag the entire film down. What could have been a
gripping story of the hunt for Osama bin Laden becomes bogged down in an
all too repetitive 'I am woman hear me roar' whine-fest. The rest of
the cast is pretty much cardboard cutout window dressing for Maya's
single minded dedication. This operation could never have happened
without the touch of a woman who acts like a man, illustrated by her
climactic vindication with CIA Director (James Gandolfini) when he asks who she is and she responds, I'm the m*****f****r who came up with this plan. Classy eh!
Maya
is certainly not the only one that has a tendency to use vulgar
language in this film. It could have all been done without the foul
dialogue but it still isn't as pervasive as it was in ARGO. It is not full of torture scenes as some have implied, certainly nothing approaching what can be seen by anyone on Al Jazeera
and that torture is real, truly authenic not Hollywood theatrics (Thank
you Al Gore for selling your network and becoming a lobbyist to and for
the popaganda outlet for Islamic jihadists, but I digress). All that
said, the film is still worth a look but leave the kids and younger
teens at home.
Cast
Maya Dan
Patrick Justin
Squadron Team Leader DEVGRU
