a powerful, thrilling, and perfectly executed look into one of the greatest manhunts in history

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2013)

In February 2009, Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal took down the likes of James Cameron's Avatar, The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man, Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, and Jason Reitman's Up in the Air when their $15 million film about a bomb squad in Iraq called The Hurt Locker won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. A powerful and thrilling look into the war in Iraq, Bigelow and Boal were commended for making a modern day war film that brought audiences into the drama of a political war that Americans didn't fully understand or fathom. Four years later, Bigelow and Boal have teamed up again for a modern day war tale that gives us the story of one of the greatest manhunts of all-time. Following the tale of a C.I.A. agent named Maya (Jessica Chastain) hunting down Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty is a heart- pounding, realistic thriller that gives us an inside look at one of the most memorable events of the last decade. At first, it seems like Zero Dark Thirty may be an overly political drama. The film begins with a black screen and a series of 911 calls on the morning of September 11, 2001. The calls are heart-breaking and place you right into the mindset of America at the time of this tragedy. Many lives were lost, people were hurt nationwide, and justice was sought for the pain we all felt. Bring in Maya and a cast of characters (highlighted by Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, and Jennifer Ehle) seeking information on the location of Osama bin Laden some three years after 9/11. With brutal torture methods, countless hours of questioning, and a search that seems like it will have no end, their search is an arduous and painful one that is not without sleepless nights, deadly threats, and tragic loss. One of the many highlights of this film is how Bigelow and Boal take us into the life of Maya and the crew searching down bin Laden. A strenuous fight to find a man who seems like he is gone forever that we invest in ourselves. With a two hour and forty minute runtime, we feel the frustrations of these C.I.A. agents as leads end in loss and the search seems to continuously go one step forward and three steps back. This search is highlighted by the acting of Chastain, Clarke, Chandler, and Ehle and the amazing script by Mark Boal. Engaging the audience from beginning to end is always a tough task for any screenwriter, but with a lengthy runtime full of frustrations and setbacks for the characters and audience alike, the screenplay must be sound to keep an audience invested in the story all the way through.