Zero Dark Thirty

Cast: Jason Clarke, Reda Katab, Jessica Chastain, Kyle Chandler, Jeremy Strong

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Release Date:  2012

Running Time: 2hrs 36 minutes

Genre: Drama/Thriller

Rating: 15

Synopsis:

(Thoughts and love go out to those who lost family and friends in the September 11 attacks)

"Zero Dark Thirty" meaning military slang for an unspecified time in the early hours of the morning before dawn.

This is the story about the brave Navy S.E.A.L.S that risked their lives over the period of a decade to find and kill Osama Bin Laden. Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the attacks against the US on September 2001! Maya is extremely reluctant at first to even be involved in the interrogation process. She's rather single minded when it comes to her work. The interrogation process isn't nice to watch and may be sensitive for some viewers. Dan (Clarke) is the CIA interrogator, while Maya watches on trying to figure out the link between Ammar, Abu Ahmed and Osama Bin Laden. This is essentially a re-enactment. Jessica Chastain's performance is very real and genuine, although she's just doing her job, she's uncomfortable there and is finding the process very difficult. John Barrowman and Chris Pratt make appearances through out the movie as part of the CIA.

Jason Clarke's performance is good, Dan is quite mysterious, he doesn't want to give much away, you're only really aware that he works for the CIA and that's it. You have no idea on his background or where he comes from. Maya is quite closed off from Dan, keeping to herself, only doing what she really needs to do to find Osama Bin Laden. Jessica's (Ehle), character is a little bit confusing, is she part of the CIA or is she simply just a journalist? Or both? It's annoying to have characters not explained properly. There is quite a bit of intertitle between scenes to let audiences know the changes between locations. It's amazing to know how many blackspots there were, just in the interrogation process.  So many men were linked to this one man! It's fascinating and really quite educating. The dialogue is very genuine, there's an awful lot of tension between characters, as there would be naturally, they're doing all they can to find this man! The determination is high! The atmosphere is very strong and intense!

It's certainly not a masterpiece when it comes to filmmaking. Bigelow has relied heavily on shaky-cam shots to emphasize scenes, however it looks more like a documentary more then a movie. Is that the idea? Very unlikely. Beigelow has also relied heavily on close up shots of actors, car tyres, streets, however the close ups are so intense that it practically moves the actors completely out of frame, making for some pretty messy looking scenes. Either you want it to look like a documentary or you don't. A mixture of both just doesn't work. The setting is extremely well portrayed and looks very genuine. This is a very scary environment and it's portrayed perfectly on screen. The editing between shots is also quite messy.  It's not the best looking movie. The lighting is a little bit too dark in a few scenes particularly near the end, when the Navy S.E.A.L.S are sent in to find Osama Bin Laden. It's a smidgen too dark. Unfortunately it doesn't build any atmosphere. It's a shame because naturally the ending is intense and you can barely see whats happening.

The storyline is there, it's just a shame it was really let down by the filmmaking. Fascinating and educating none the less!

3/5 stars