very good

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2020)

This film is a fictionalized account of the ten-year hunt to kill Osama bin Laden.
This film has a strong edge to it. Much of its grit is in the deliberate deglamourization of the settings. They often look bleak yet considering the real-life locales, it would have been superficial to make them more attractive as is often done in similar films.
Director Kathryn Bigelow does a great job in doing the nearly impossible - something Ben Affleck also did with "Argo" - that is to create a feeling of tension and suspense even when the audience already knows the final outcome. As the film is more than two and a half hours, this is not an easy task.
The film begins to lag a bit in the midway point. However, during the last half hour, the grand event shows the build-up was well worth it. The darkness of the photography in the night-time operation creates a very unique impact. Also, with a fine lead performance by Jessica Chastain as a CIA officer, "Zero Dark Thirty" ends up as one of the best films of 2012.