Zero Dark Thirty Review

4 Stars

On September 11, 2001, a terrorist group known as Al Qaeda carried out the worst attack by a foreign country on US soil.  In the decade that followed, several covert and overt operations have been carried out in retaliation against those responsible for the attack and in efforts to track down their elusive leader, Osama Bin Laden.  Zero Dark Thirty is the story of the success of a small military group knows as Navy SEAL Team Six in accomplishing this goal.  Maya (Jessica Chastain) is a new CIA operative and she has the uncomfortable job of overseeing the interrogation of prisoners after the Al Qaeda attacks.  Although she is reluctant to be a part of it, Maya truly believes this is the only way to get any viable information as to the location of Osama Bin Laden. After a decade of pursuit, Maya is sure she has discovered Bin Laden's whereabouts, and SEAL Team Six is sent to capture or kill the terrorist mastermind, but she is the only one confident in her findings.

As I stated in my preview, I said this looks to be an emotionally charged, gut-wrenchingly uncomfortable, frustrating movie.  Director Kathryn Bigelow did a marvelous job.  I'm not sure why there was so much hype over the torture scenes.  Like it or not, they happened.  This movie doesn't glorify or demonize them.  It was a part of the war.  They way she handled it was flawless.  Showed enough to understand what was going on, but torturing captives wasn't the point of the movie.  The point was the hunt for Bin Laden.  She addressed the topic, presented it and moved on.  Very well done.  

Another concern I had was that movies like this tend to do three things: point out how inept and inefficient our government is, demonize an entire race of people because of a small faction of radicals, and glorify the actions of those following orders as brave heroes. Again, Bigelow is to be commended for sticking to her story, Maya's hunt for Bin Laden.  It wasn't filled with gratuitous anti-American government sentiments.  It wasn't filled with anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani rhetoric.  It didn't glorify torture.  And the final chapter of the movie with SEAL Team Six going into the compound and doing their job was breath-taking. 

All-in-all I was very impressed and gave Zero Dark Thirty a solid 4 stars.  I would definitely see it again and there's a good chance I'll see this in my personal collection some day.  Well done.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.