BrianSez's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

10 long years is what it took to find Osama Bin Laden, so it is understandable that the movie comes in at over 2-1/2 hours, and maybe even that was no easy feat. Leave it up to Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow, who easily keeps up her street cred with Zero Dark Thirty. Plenty of drama and tension will keep you going through this movie marathon. Most of us hardened action/war movie goers will barely blink at the CIA’s anti-terrorist efforts, but for those of you who care to pick at facts will notice that supposedly rarely used interrogation techniques abounded, and operatives were quite liberal with their use of violence. The movie climaxes with the raid. Did it really take that long? Were the Osama insiders really that docile? Don’t get me wrong, the raid impresses immensely; I get so much Hollywood in my face, that it had me second guessing what actually happened. Of course, nobody will confirm or deny that. ZDT is the second accounting I have watched that grants the kudos behind “Maya”, the woman CIA operative that kept the flame going. Other than the Seals, she was the star of the show. When all is said and done, ZDT is a crowd pleaser, and even if it weren’t about the famous raid, it likely would have been a big draw anyway.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Jessica Chastain – I didn’t buy her as the tough CIA operative, perhaps because she somehow seemed to slight around all those men. Not that her acting was bad, to the contrary, she held up well.

Jason Clarke – Good job as the guy willing to do everyone’s dirty work on the front lines with the captured enemy combatants.

Kyle chandler fits in well as the CIA boss that had to leave town before he really got the glory due to him

Jennifer Ehle is actually more fitting to me than Jessica’s “Maya” as an operative keeping up with the testosterone around her.

Film - Really Great 4.5

Edge - Sordid 2.6

Reality - Glib 1.5

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