Zero Dark Thirty - Review

For director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, following up their collaboration on The Hurt Locker was always going to be a tough task. Yet Zero Dark Thirty not only matches Hurt Locker,  it surpasses it. The tense and gripping film builds from a graphic and confronting opening, to a thrilling and unmissable ending. Along the way Jessica Chastain owns the character of Maya, and the supporting cast, led by Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle and Mark Strong impress with good performances.

Zero Dark Thirty picks up in the aftermath of 9/11, with a fresh CIA operative, Maya (Chastain) joining Dan (Clarke) in Pakistan to aid in interrogation (torture) of contacts to disarm al-Qeada and Osama bin Laden. Working with a team led by Dan and including Jack (Harold Perrineau) and Jessica (Ehle), answering to Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler), Maya begins to make progress towards locating bin Laden. When a terrorist attack sees the death of a close friend, Maya's task turns to obsession. She eventually works with George (Strong) and tries to convince the Director of the CIA (James Gandolfini) to act on a hunch she develops, which involves a Navy SEAL team led by Patrick (Edgerton).

Chastain owns the screen as Maya, who may be based on a real person, much like Jeremy Renner in Hurt Locker, and deserves accolades for her ability to balance Maya's desperate obsession with bin Laden and her human frailties. Clarke as Dan is a real presence over the screen, and he almost steals his scenes. Ehle also puts in a fantastic performance as Jessica.
Zero Dark Thirty is like Homeland on steroids. It features similar build ups in tension, and spectacular releases. The final sequence is pulsating and breathtaking, even though we all know what the end result will be. Bigelow balances the action with human emotions, and the alternations between the dark and night vision is brilliant. At 156 minutes, Zero Dark Thirty is a little long, which can become evident in the middle period of the film, but all is forgiven in the last half an hour. Bigelow proves that she is a frontline director with a documentary style and fly-on-the-wall characteristics. This results in a strong hold over the audience and personifies Maya's plight. The early torture scenes are confronting and may cause distress to some viewers, however it adds to the desperation inside the characters to perform 'For God and Country'.
Without a doubt, Zero Dark Thirty is one of the best films of our summer, and one of the best in recent years.

9.1 out of 10 - Amazing.

Zero Dark Thirty is a must see. Spot on performances, perfect direction and unstoppable suspense flow through the entire film.