Suspesful, well made thriller

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2013)

So I originally thought that this movie would at least have a chance at best picture, but since Bigellow didn't get a nomination for best director, it seems it's chances are slim. So Zero Dark Thirty is directed by Kathryn Bigellow and written by Mark Boal, the same people who made the Hurt Locker, and if you read my review you know that I wasn't a fan of that movie, I actually think it's one of the most overrated movies ever made. And well Zero Dark Thirty is not perfect, it definitely makes up for The Hurt Locker.
This movie is two and a half hours long, and it feels like it, some scenes go by way too slowly, and of all the characters, I remember one name, literally one name. The shaky cam and fast editing isn't nearly as bad as it was in Hurt Locker, but it still is present and while it sometimes is used well sometimes it's just used for the sake of using it. And I don't think I'm spoiling anything, but at the end when they finally get bin Laden, it goes by so fast, it seems very anti climatic.
But the main character Maya is very likable, she seems believable that she would want to hunt this guy down. The suspenseful scenes are very suspenseful and don't just feel like padding to make the movie longer. It has some funny moments, the production value is great, it pretty much just fixes most of the problems I had with Hurt Locker. Some scenes can get very hard to watch, and I'm not exactly sure how much of this is true, but it seems to be pretty facutal.
Zero Dark Thirty is a very good film with great suspense, well done action scenes, a likable lead, great acting, high production design, and some really awesome explosions that I honestly didn't see coming. It definitely is better than the writer and director's last movie, and while I won't be rushing out to get it on DVD, I may watch this again in the future.