Zero Dark Thirty
Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) returns with this modern-day thriller telling the true story of the international hunt for Osama bin Laden. The massive resources of the United States combine with the efforts of a determined CIA operative (Jessica Chastain in a Golden Globe-winning performance) and the bravery of a Navy SEAL team to locate and kill the al-Qaeda leader.
For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate the infamous terrorist. CIA agent Maya becomes a veteran of the hunt, surviving multiple attacks but never wavering in her conviction that bin Laden's courier holds the key to locating the terrorist. While it brings her into conflict with her station chief (Kyle Chandler), Maya's determination eventually sees a team of Navy SEALs prepare for an audacious history-making assault on a residence in Pakistan.
Chastain (The Tree of Life) is joined in an outstanding cast with the likes of Mark Strong (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom), James Gandolfini (Killing Them Softly), Jennifer Ehle (Contagion) and Mark Duplass (Your Sister’s Sister).
- Director:
- Kathryn Bigelow ('The Hurt Locker', 'Point Break', 'Strange Days')
- Writer:
- Mark Boal
- Cast:
- Joel EdgertonJessica ChastainChris PrattMark StrongKyle ChandlerJennifer EhleMark DuplassJason Clarke
Reviews & comments
Total Film
pressBreathlessly tense, thrillingly orchestrated and intellectually complex, this damn fine piece of rigorous, meticulous filmmaking enhances Kathryn Bigelow's status as one of her generation's most accomplished directors.
The Guardian
pressIt's an effective thriller - uninterested in anyone other than the home team.
Los Angeles Times
pressBigelow proves herself once again to be a master of heightened realism and narrative drive in this retelling of the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden.
Empire Magazine
pressGripping throughout, with an impressive central performance, this is like a Dogme 95 redo of a Chuck Norris film ...
A.V. Club
pressIt's a film about revenge and its immense costs, different from a common vigilante story because of the target, not the arc.
Pulls you in right from the get-go, starts to lose you about half-way through but then draws you in again by introducing Chris Pratt and Joel Edgerton's characters at the half-way mark. Great war film, and a sleek thriller but even more than that, lets you see and experience the measure's the U.S had to take and the losses that they had to go through.
This film is a thoroughly engrossing look at a woman doing an extremely challenging job. How real it all is is debatable, I've read conflicting reports on that score. I think the main point, surely, from Kathryn Bigelow is that there are women out there outclassing men in a predominantly mans' world. This was a BIG hunt, surely one of the biggest of our...
The hunt for Osama bin Laden is told through a heart stoping, adrenaline filled tale that show's just what a genius film maker Kathryn Bigelow. The story follow's CIA operative Maya hunt to find Osama bin Laden. Following the plot through ten year's it show's just what a mammoth task the hunt for bin Laden was. Jessica Chastian is brilliant as the CIA...
Given the inevitable ending of this story, Zero Dark Thirty manages to effectively be engaging, emphasising the political clout of both the CIA and Al Qaeda rather than the results we all know. Following her Oscar winning The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow delivers a modern thriller in her usual no flash approach - just raw and gritty, allowing the greatest...
Zero Dark Thirty follows the hunt for Osama bin Laden from 2001 to 2011. Jessica Chastain's Maya is our protagonist. She starts working for the CIA in 2001, when torture is being used as a method of extracting information from prisoners. We follow her right through to the killing of bin Laden in 2011. The first act of the film, where we are introduced to...
This is well worth seeing, and on the big screen. It grips you and doesn't let go... a very tight and effective thriller.
I am surprised that a movie where I already knew the end kept me pinned to my seat from start to finish. Hats off to actors and direction/production teams for portraying the frustration, dirt, grit and pain of the search for Osama over a long time span in a way that was believable and compelling. Forget all the rippling conspiracy stories about who did what...
Kathryn Bigelow follows up her OSCAR-winning 'The Hurt Locker' with a big-screen recounting of the supposedly "true" story of the hunt for Bin Laden. Playing like a big-screen version of TV's 'Homeland,' we follow Jessica Chastain's CIA officer as she hunts her prey. Whilst we may never know the whole truth of the hunt for Bin Laden it does seem extremely...
Total Film
pressBreathlessly tense, thrillingly orchestrated and intellectually complex, this damn fine piece of rigorous, meticulous filmmaking enhances Kathryn Bigelow's status as one of her generation's most accomplished directors.
The Guardian
pressIt's an effective thriller - uninterested in anyone other than the home team.
Los Angeles Times
pressBigelow proves herself once again to be a master of heightened realism and narrative drive in this retelling of the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden.
Empire Magazine
pressGripping throughout, with an impressive central performance, this is like a Dogme 95 redo of a Chuck Norris film ...
A.V. Club
pressIt's a film about revenge and its immense costs, different from a common vigilante story because of the target, not the arc.
Pulls you in right from the get-go, starts to lose you about half-way through but then draws you in again by introducing Chris Pratt and Joel Edgerton's characters at the half-way mark. Great war film, and a sleek thriller but even more than that, lets you see and experience the measure's the U.S had to take and the losses that they had to go through.
This film is a thoroughly engrossing look at a woman doing an extremely challenging job. How real it all is is debatable, I've read conflicting reports on that score. I think the main point, surely, from Kathryn Bigelow is that there are women out there outclassing men in a predominantly mans' world. This was a BIG hunt, surely one of the biggest of our...
The hunt for Osama bin Laden is told through a heart stoping, adrenaline filled tale that show's just what a genius film maker Kathryn Bigelow. The story follow's CIA operative Maya hunt to find Osama bin Laden. Following the plot through ten year's it show's just what a mammoth task the hunt for bin Laden was. Jessica Chastian is brilliant as the CIA...
Given the inevitable ending of this story, Zero Dark Thirty manages to effectively be engaging, emphasising the political clout of both the CIA and Al Qaeda rather than the results we all know. Following her Oscar winning The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow delivers a modern thriller in her usual no flash approach - just raw and gritty, allowing the greatest...
Zero Dark Thirty follows the hunt for Osama bin Laden from 2001 to 2011. Jessica Chastain's Maya is our protagonist. She starts working for the CIA in 2001, when torture is being used as a method of extracting information from prisoners. We follow her right through to the killing of bin Laden in 2011. The first act of the film, where we are introduced...
This is well worth seeing, and on the big screen. It grips you and doesn't let go... a very tight and effective thriller.
I am surprised that a movie where I already knew the end kept me pinned to my seat from start to finish. Hats off to actors and direction/production teams for portraying the frustration, dirt, grit and pain of the search for Osama over a long time span in a way that was believable and compelling. Forget all the rippling conspiracy stories about who did...
Kathryn Bigelow follows up her OSCAR-winning 'The Hurt Locker' with a big-screen recounting of the supposedly "true" story of the hunt for Bin Laden. Playing like a big-screen version of TV's 'Homeland,' we follow Jessica Chastain's CIA officer as she hunts her prey. Whilst we may never know the whole truth of the hunt for Bin Laden it does seem...
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