Zero Dark Thirty Review

Before I start I have two things to say. The first is that this is considered as a 2012 movie because even though it was just released in my area, it was released in other parts of the country of December 2012. And second this being a 2012 movie, it is the best movie of the year. If you haven't heard, Zero Dark Thirty is the true story about hunting down and killing Osama Bin Laden. The movie is directed by Kathryn Bigelow who made the Academy Award winning movie The Hurt Locker, which also happens to be my favorite movie of all time. Now because of that I had some very high expectations going into this, and I was completely blown away. The movie's main protagonist is a CIA operative named Maya portrayed by Jessica Chastain, who should and will win Best Actress in a leading role at the Oscars. The movie starts out about a year or so after 9/11, and the US has already started to go to work in the Middle East. And that's where the most controversial scene in the movie comes in. The opening scene of this movie is actually a pretty graphic torture scene. There has been a lot of talk about if this scene was necessary or not, I actually believe that having it in the movie adds to the experience. It really shows the audience what they're in for, it doesn't sugar coat anything. This movie shows the dark side of the war against terrorism. While interviewing a terrorist, Maya gets a name of a man believed to be Osama's courier. So she follows lead after lead for the next 10 years in hopes of finding him. But one day she is given an old document that got lost in the CIA's archive giving information about the guy. Maya uses it to help track the him down to his home in Pakistan, a well secured compound. Now Maya is fighting to get an operation sanctioned to breach the compound. Because if she's right, she just found the location of the most wanted man on the planet. To be honest, there really isn't a bad aspect to this movie. I can't think of anything to criticize. The cinematography was well done, set design was good, the sound design was top notch (when there were gunshots it sounded like someone was sitting next to me and firing off rounds in the theater). The acting was great; but while everyone did a good job, Jessica Chastain's performance towered over everyone else. What Daniel Day Lewis did for Lincoln, Jessica did the same for Zero Dark Thirty. I would like to give a disclaimer. This is a violent movie with some pretty graphic torture scenes, it isn't going to be for everyone. But if you can get past that, this truly is a masterpiece. This is my generations Apocalypse Now and one of the greatest war movies ever. Kathryn Bigelow really out did herself by crafting an intense thrill ride with twist and turns that will get your heart pumping and make you jump back in your seat. There have been a lot of great movies in 2012, but for my money Zero Dark Thirty is the best. 5/5