Zero Dark Thirty

2013 | 157 minutes | Rated R

Do US intelligence personnel routinely use torture in order to further national security? That doesn’t particularly matter for Kathryn (The Hurt Locker, Point Break) Bigelow’s dark, disturbing, exciting drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The procedural aspects are firmly in place, the characters convincingly drawn, the action scenes crisp and sharp, and Jessica Chastain’s performance as the CIA official in charge of the operation, if necessarily a bit wooden, is at least made of handsome oak. We’re all for freedom and justice and empowered women on the forefront of liberty and death to tyrants and all that, but it’s eerie that two major Hollywood films — this one and Ben Affleck’s Argo — lionized the secret world of national security at more or less the same time in malls across America. Something to think about after the cheering stops. Costarring Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Duplass, and Fredric Lehne as “The Wolf” (157 min.) By Kelly Vance

See our full review:

Zero Dark Thirty

Somebody had to do it. So she did. »

Official Site: zerodarkthirty-movie.com
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Producer: Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison, Colin Wilson, Greg Shapiro and Ted Schipper
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, Edgar Ramirez, Chris Pratt, Reda Kateb, James Gandolfini, Harold Perrineau, Jeremy Strong, Fares Fares, Yoav Levi, Scott Adkins, Fredric Lehne, Mark Duplass, Stephen Dillane and John Barrowman