X
- 2012
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 37 m
- 2012
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 37 m
- 2012
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 37 m
- 2012
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 37 m
Zero Dark Thirty
6.9
Where to Watch
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 46 Critic Reviews
95
96% Positive
44 Reviews
44 Reviews
4% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 46 Critic Reviews
95
96% Positive
44 Reviews
44 Reviews
4% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Zero Dark Thirty is precise, definitive filmmaking, yet Bigelow refuses to hand over easy answers. Some people call that evasion. I call it the ultimate despair.
A great movie, an astonishing achievement on nearly every level.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 1,273 User Ratings
6.9
69% Positive
882 Ratings
882 Ratings
15% Mixed
192 Ratings
192 Ratings
16% Negative
199 Ratings
199 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 1,273 User Ratings
6.9
69% Positive
882 Ratings
882 Ratings
15% Mixed
192 Ratings
192 Ratings
16% Negative
199 Ratings
199 Ratings
Zero Dark Thirty stands to become the dominant narrative about this important historical event, no matter its distortions, composites, or other slippery feints of storytelling. In that, it wields a dangerous power.
The word docudrama doesn't hint at Boal's achievement. This is movie journalism that snaps and stings, that purifies a decade's clamor and clutter into narrative clarity, with a salutary kick.
Far more ambitious than "The Hurt Locker," yet nowhere near so tripwire-tense, this procedure-driven, decade-spanning docudrama nevertheless rivets for most of its running time.
Breathlessly tense, thrillingly orchestrated and intellectually complex, this damn fine piece of rigorous, meticulous filmmaking enhances Kathryn Bigelow's status as one of her generation's most accomplished directors.
As a realistic political thriller about Americans in harm's way it is not half as suspenseful or entertaining as "Argo." We may never know the truth about how we found bin Laden, but I still believe what we do know makes a strong enough story on its own without Wonder Woman.
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Had this film been about hunting down anyone besides Osama bin Laden it would have been unbearably dull, not because it's lacking in action, but because it's lacking, period. It relies entirely on the viewer's emotional response to the events of 9/11 and frankly I would rather have watched a one-hour documentary than a "dramatization" with a runtime on the long side of two and a half hours.
Things that irked me: The CIA station chief in Kabul isn't identified as the station chief till the film is halfway over. A bomb goes off in a hotel and I expected a bomb to go off because it was the only time I'd seen the main character, Maya, sitting down in a hotel restaurant. Another bomb goes off at a US base and I predicted that too because another CIA person insisted that the guy entering the base not be checked at the gate (and Maya wasn't present to suffer the effects of a bomb blast). The only time we see Maya leave the US Embassy by herself there's a car waiting right outside the "back gate" (or whatever) and it's full of guys waiting to blast her with automatic rifles. And then yet another CIA guy who is never really identified walks into a room full of CIA people and chews them out for failing to find bin Laden up till that point in the movie.
I suppose that if I forced myself to choose one main problem with the film it would have to be the lack of interesting characters. Maya is an analyst, apparently, and she's determined to see bin Laden hunted down and killed. And that's what happens. The end.
Also, there's a severe lack of story. Our heroes interrogate all kinds of people and then the critical step comes to light when some CIA person, never actually named, goes through "all the files" very carefully and discovers some guy they thought dead might actually be alive and so they hunt him down and, surprise, he leads them to bin Laden, or at least the house where they think bin Laden might be occupying.
Yes, we see lots of computers, lots of satellite images, and lots of stuff about how phone calls can be traced across the globe. Yes, we spend some time in the streets trying to track down some courier guy talking on his cell phone. Yes, we eventually end up in the compound where yet another helicopter on a critical mission malfunctions and crashes. But none of it makes for movie gold.
And ultimately there's no definite proof that bin Laden is hiding out where they think he is hiding out. It's chains of logic. It's "well this guy wouldn't be doing that unless X, Y, and Z, and therefore it's got bin Laden's face all over it."
If you're interested in the bin Laden saga check out some documentaries and leave this turkey alone.
Report
PROS: impressive production; absorbing camera work and action; highly invested acting of a determined and intense female CIA field officer; fitting soundtrack; well paced and intelligent storytelling of a decade-long pursuit.
CONS: portrays CIA officers as "heroes" trying to defeat the "bad guys"; makes a disturbing and misleading link between using torture and obtaining needed and reliable information, falsely implying that torture can be justified as an effective form of intelligence gathering; the statement “based on first-hand accounts of actual events” is deceptive because it leads viewers to believe the story is accurate and that the information obtained during or after the use of torture played a critical role in locating UBL, when that's not the case*.
*In January of 2013, senators John McCain, Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin sent a letter to Acting CIA Director Michael Morell explaining that after a review of more than six million pages of CIA records, they made the following determination:
"The CIA did not first learn about the existence of the Usama Bin Laden courier from CIA detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. Nor did the CIA discover the courier's identity from detainees subjected to coercive techniques. No detainee reported on the courier’s full name or specific whereabouts, and no detainee identified the compound in which Usama Bin Laden was hidden. Instead, the CIA learned of the existence of the courier, his true name and location through means unrelated to the CIA detention and interrogation program."
Report
Zero Dark Thirty is not a film that has aged gracefully at all. The plot is incredibly slow, and feels more like a revenge porn than anything else. The story is incoherent and bogged down with unnecessary characters that you care nothing about. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden should have been an exciting and engaging film, whereas Zero Dark Thirty is a bore.
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Production Company
Columbia Pictures,
Annapurna Pictures,
First Light Production
Release Date Dec 19, 2012
Duration 2 h 37 m
Rating R
Tagline The greatest manhunt in history.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Online Film & Television Association
• 1 Win & 12 Nominations
