Just Go Ahead Right Now and Engrave Jessica's Name on Her Statue

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2013)

Naomi Watts, Jennifer Lawrence, and Emmanuelle Riva are all fine actresses, who all gave fine performances in 2012. It was not their fault, but is certainly their misfortune, that that happened to be the year in which Jessica Chastain appeared in Zero Dark Thirty.
Yes, the Titanic sank, the Valkyrie plot to kill Hitler failed, and Apollo 13 returned home safely. Did it matter that we knew in advance how the story ends? Nope.
While I wouldn't call Zero Dark Thirty "entertaining", exactly, it is a superb piece of movie- making, all the more amazing when you realize that Osama bin Laden was killed on 2011 May 2, and this gripping full-length feature film was released a mere 619 days later. Director Kathryn Bigelow's mastery of the logistics rivals that of SEAL Team 6 itself. You'd think it would be gravy to get even a decent performance out of the lead performer (Chastain, playing dedicated CIA analyst Maya) in such a hurried time frame, but Bigelow doesn't settle for anything less than a brilliant one, assisted by rock-solid supporting performances and thoroly convincing sets, props, locations, and dialog, all wrapped up with the you-are-there immediacy of the final half hour, depicting the Abaddabad raid itself as seen thru the eerie green light of the SEALs' night-vision goggles.
What a terrific movie!