A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May 2011.
It’s a climax of cuticle-shredding suspense. Even if we think we know the outcome, how it was done is a complete no-man’s-land.
Zero Dark Thirty is a gripping, authentic-feeling account of the dark side of the war on terror.
Audiences may be intrigued, though not wildly moved by Zero Dark Thirty – and I suspect Bigelow doesn’t want your tears anyway.
Zero Dark Thirty is always aware of the moral and political complexities of war, but what makes it a great work of cinema is its awareness of the human cost above all.
Another trivialisation of history.
Gripping throughout, with an impressive central performance, this is like a Dogme 95 redo of a Chuck Norris film — by heroic effort, the good guys find and kill a bad guy. How you feel about that is something Bigelow leaves you to decide.
It haunts and lingers long after the lights go up.
A triumph.
Despite being a cinematic flaunting of American prowess, Bigelow’s markedly unglamorous approach, (especially the rather pleasing, flatly delivered ending) isn’t particularly flattering of the U.S. Instead it paints the hugely strenuous effort as the erosive, wearisome and unpleasant procedure it most likely was.
A gripping drama...that pulls no punches.
The film has much in common with its lead character, a CIA operative called Maya (Jessica Chastain): it is lean, reserved but effective, and spurns any displays of sentimentality.
With her screenwriter, Mark Boal, [Bigelow] conveys the nature of counterterrorism as a long game, complicated, sometimes brutal, often exasperating, and she does it without sensationalism.
Despite the makers' claims of detachment, of simply recording facts, this stylistically dynamic film doesn't feel detached in any way.
Zero Dark Thirty is a stunning achievement: a deftly made, intelligently handled and serious piece of film-making that stands alongside Paul Greengrass’s United 93 as the definitive cinematic responses to 9/11.
It's an effective thriller – uninterested in anyone other than the home team.
This is a fascinating film, and Chastain's wonderful performance has something in it of the tragic sense of life.
Regardless of where you stand on the politics of Zero Dark Thirty, this is an engrossing, action-packed picture that delivers thrills and thought-provoking drama in equal measure.
Despite the fact that everyone watching knows how it’s going to end, Zero Dark Thirty works. The unhurried procedural approach requires patience initially, but overall it captures the world’s most famous manhunt in authentic, gripping fashion.
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General release. Check local listings for show times.
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