Directed by:
Kathryn BigelowScreenplay:
Mark BoalCinematography:
Greig FraserComposer:
Alexandre DesplatCast:
Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, Edgar Ramirez, James Gandolfini, Chris Pratt, Callan Mulvey (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Kathryn Bigelow directs this military action thriller about the mission by American special operations forces to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Shining a light on the secretive processes behind the world's greatest manhunt, the film details the work done by the intelligence team responsible for finally tracking down bin Laden, graphically documenting the unfolding ten-year intelligence hunt through the eyes of CIA analyst Maya (Jessica Chastain), whose initial minor role assumes ever-greater importance as a crack US Navy Seal team readies itself for its most important mission ever. (Universal Pictures UK)
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Reviews (17)
"The ultra-professional result may be easier to respect than enjoy," said Peter Debruge in his review for “Variety” and I couldn’t agree more. The process that lead to the discovery of the hideout of Osama bin Laden and his killing is very well portrayed, with Jessica Chastain as a “tough” agent, cold and emotionless. It must have been the only way to film this story so shortly after the events, without turning it into dumb propaganda or, on the contrary, a silly anti-American conspiracy. Thumbs up, for sure, but did I enjoy it? No. It’s still a three-hour long borefest in the desert rather than a gripping war movie.
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I understand that getting Osama was mostly due to lengthy bureaucracy combined with refreshing waterboarding, but the first hour of this film is the pure essence of boredom. It only begins to pick up after the attack on the base in Afghanistan, only to culminate in the final bit of action, which is something so precisely and coldly filmed that the director's craft is bewildering; anyway, we won't know for a few years whether this film came too soon or too late. 3 ½.
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The losers have a voice and dignity (which we realize when they are completely denied and the film does not turn “eyes"), the winners are not here - only strange marked beings without intimacy and pleasure, lonely technocrats who approve to any sort of crap, but it breaks them down when someone shoots their favorite monkeys. One of the American critics wrote that this procedural view of "the administration of justice" is amoral and came, like Greengrass' Flight 93, too soon. I say: just in time. Maybe one day we will see a film where everything will be given with clear moral values, the good will be good and the bad will be bad. This will be the story of the winners. Zero Dark Thirty is a story of lost and abandoned people, which can be interpreted as admiration for the performance of the bureaucratic machinery of the secret services, but rather offers the interpretation that Bigelow has made another bold film about stigmatized individuals who "move history".
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The perspective of one of the workaholic cogs in an overseas bureaucratic machine for the search for a "symbol of all evil" - a.k.a., a procedural drama in the purest possible form. As interesting and detailed as it is, it's also cold, audience-unfriendly, and requires more than a cursory knowledge of the events. The first, office hour is significantly better than the second, which for logical reasons was fundamentally reworked from the original concept. There is no propaganda, and the Allies come out no better than "the bad guys," but nevertheless if a (much) longer time had elapsed since these events, it would have been better.
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It doesn’t have the balls of The Hurt Locker, but it’s much more interesting. Immediately having left the nest, Maya the Honey Bee is entrusted with the job to find the bearded villain who knocked down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Maya was looked for him, grumbling that she’s lacks the means, then she found him and sent a team to take him out. A tear was shed. The End. I hope I haven’t spoiled the ending for you with this SPOILER that they got Bin Laden. :) Jessica Chastain was the energetic powerhouse of the entire movie, even with her one-dimensional character who lives for work alone, and she continues on and up in her career development. As for the other members of the actors’ ensemble, the awesome Jason Clarke is No. 1 in this picture, winning over the audience with his interrogation at the beginning. Mark Strong rocks again, his entry is one of the most memorable scenes of the movie. Kathryn Bigelow managed everything she had to, but as a whole it’s too long and spends a long time beating about the bush. I know that this was how it really happened, but it harms the story. Otherwise decent work, nothing more. It's cool, that you're strong and I respect it, I do. But in the end, everybody breaks, bro. It's biology.
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