The latest release from Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow takes the audience on the thrilling journey for the search and capture of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Based on the true accounts from those involved directly from bin Laden’s capture, this film will captivate you as you watch how the CIA found the world’s most wanted man.
Jessica Chastian, who recently won a Golden Globe for her incredible performance, takes the lead as the young and ambitious CIA agent sent to the middle east to spearhead the search for bin Laden. The film charts her journey as she settles into the dangerous life she must lead which is filled of terror and uncertainty, guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat.
Zero Dark Thirty is filled with acting legends who prove you don’t need to have the main part to do justice to your role. Mark Strong and James Gandolfini are excellent as they battle with Chastian on bin Laden’s whereabouts and convey the doubt and frustration of American’s quest to apprehend the man behind 9/11.
Although this is one of those stories that everybody knows the ending to, it’s the journey that really pulls the audience in, enthralling you into the life of a CIA analyst. The intensity from the Navy SEAL’s capture is extreme – Bigelow does an incredible job bringing the reality of the situation to the screen without dramatizing it to the point that it’s over the top. For a second you forget you are watching a movie, but a documentary on the real events that took place over the past 10 years.
What is also great about the film is that although it’s lengthy – a crazy 157 minutes to be exact – it doesn’t really slug at any moment. The film begins in 2001, just after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, and catalogues the series of events that correspond to finding bin Laden until his death in May 2011.
Filled with explosions, suspense and an amazing cast, Zero Dark Thirty is a must see movie the year. The film has however racked up some serious debate about the glorification of torture which features in the beginning of the movie, so it may not be for sensitive eyes. However if you liked movies such as The Hurt Locker and Black Hawk Down then this film is probably for you.
[rating=5]
