Zero Dark Thirty
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Mark Boal
Photography: Grieg Fraser
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke.
Country: USA
Year: 2012
Back in 2009 one movie swept the Oscars beating the even the hotly tipped Goliath, Avatar. That movie was The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. That dream team have now reunited to bring us Zero Dark Thirty, the story of the decade long manhunt for Osama Bin Laden.
The movie was originally about the failed hunt Bin Laden, but part way through principal photography he was killed by U.S Marines, which meant that Bigelow and Boal had to fashion a new ending for their film. I would like to know how the original movie was going to end because I just can't imagine how it would have worked. Unless it just ended abruptly which would have sucked.
We're introduced at the beginning to CIA operative, Maya, who at the beginning is kind of a rookie mocked for her age and gender. We're pitched that this is one woman's fight to capture Public Enemy No.1. As the film takes place over a decade, we see Maya and the approval of those around her develop quite rapidly as the film progresses. The films been criticized for not giving any back stories to any of the characters. That's true off most, but then characters in Zero Dark Thirty are pretty expendable and they go as soon as they come. But Bigelow did something very clever with Maya, in the foreground you have this massive story about the hunt for Bin Laden but if you look carefully at the background; the wallpaper on Maya's laptop, the photos on her desk you'll begin to paint a picture of her past which I thought was a pretty interesting way of going about it.
Kathryn Bigelow's direction is phenomenal, I've been critical of her in the past, I've said that there are at least half a dozen female directors that deserve the accolades she gets more than her. But I take some of that back now, Zero Dark Thirty is stunningly shot and all the performances are fantastic. Although I'll still stand by The Hurt Locker being very overrated.
Jessica Chastain has been having a fantastic couple of years and it's becoming repetitive to say how good she is, but I can't not talk about her astonishing job in this film, she really does carry it. Other actors, especially Jason Clarke, do great jobs too, but as I said before most of them aren't given a great deal of screen-time. Torchwood fans may be disappointed to learn that John Barrowman only gets two lines and not good ones at that.
Zero Dark Thirty, as you probably know, has been the target of much controversy surrounding it's depiction of torture as a means of getting information, some people say that it shows torture in a positive light. It's the kind of insistence when you really have to just see the film for yourself and make your own mind up. But for my money, no it doesn't. It doesn't show torture working to any great effect, they gather more information from straight interrogation and you're not walking out of the cinema at the end with your fist in the air shouting 'YEAH, TORTURE'. Boal and Bigelow decided to tell the story as truthfully as they could and not to whitewash history, which honestly I think was the right decision.
The film is two and three quarter hours and to say that every frame is gripping would be a lie, the best part of two hours is spent talking in boardrooms and shiftily through papers. Some people will be bored, I know this for a fact because I counted two people walking out and never coming back. Although these scenes help to build a connection between the audience and the story, you're going on this journey with Maya and when she hits a brick wall, you feel her frustration. And if you stick with it you'll find the last forty minutes of the film is the action film you may have been hoping for.
The film does a great job of being accessible to everyone without dumbing down too much. For a film that focused on the intelligence side of the mission to find Bin Laden, at no point did I feel lost in translation or not understanding what was going on.
Zero Dark Thirty is a step above and beyond for Bigelow and Boal after The Hurt Locker, fantastically shot and acted, definitely worth checking out.
We're introduced at the beginning to CIA operative, Maya, who at the beginning is kind of a rookie mocked for her age and gender. We're pitched that this is one woman's fight to capture Public Enemy No.1. As the film takes place over a decade, we see Maya and the approval of those around her develop quite rapidly as the film progresses. The films been criticized for not giving any back stories to any of the characters. That's true off most, but then characters in Zero Dark Thirty are pretty expendable and they go as soon as they come. But Bigelow did something very clever with Maya, in the foreground you have this massive story about the hunt for Bin Laden but if you look carefully at the background; the wallpaper on Maya's laptop, the photos on her desk you'll begin to paint a picture of her past which I thought was a pretty interesting way of going about it.
Kathryn Bigelow's direction is phenomenal, I've been critical of her in the past, I've said that there are at least half a dozen female directors that deserve the accolades she gets more than her. But I take some of that back now, Zero Dark Thirty is stunningly shot and all the performances are fantastic. Although I'll still stand by The Hurt Locker being very overrated.
Jessica Chastain has been having a fantastic couple of years and it's becoming repetitive to say how good she is, but I can't not talk about her astonishing job in this film, she really does carry it. Other actors, especially Jason Clarke, do great jobs too, but as I said before most of them aren't given a great deal of screen-time. Torchwood fans may be disappointed to learn that John Barrowman only gets two lines and not good ones at that.
Zero Dark Thirty, as you probably know, has been the target of much controversy surrounding it's depiction of torture as a means of getting information, some people say that it shows torture in a positive light. It's the kind of insistence when you really have to just see the film for yourself and make your own mind up. But for my money, no it doesn't. It doesn't show torture working to any great effect, they gather more information from straight interrogation and you're not walking out of the cinema at the end with your fist in the air shouting 'YEAH, TORTURE'. Boal and Bigelow decided to tell the story as truthfully as they could and not to whitewash history, which honestly I think was the right decision.
The film is two and three quarter hours and to say that every frame is gripping would be a lie, the best part of two hours is spent talking in boardrooms and shiftily through papers. Some people will be bored, I know this for a fact because I counted two people walking out and never coming back. Although these scenes help to build a connection between the audience and the story, you're going on this journey with Maya and when she hits a brick wall, you feel her frustration. And if you stick with it you'll find the last forty minutes of the film is the action film you may have been hoping for.
The film does a great job of being accessible to everyone without dumbing down too much. For a film that focused on the intelligence side of the mission to find Bin Laden, at no point did I feel lost in translation or not understanding what was going on.
Zero Dark Thirty is a step above and beyond for Bigelow and Boal after The Hurt Locker, fantastically shot and acted, definitely worth checking out.
