Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty is based on the real life events surrounding one woman’s relentless hunt for 9/11 mastermind Usama Bin Laden and his subsequent execution at the hands of Seal Team 6. Fresh-faced Maya (Jessica Chastain) steps off the plane from D.C. and into a secret Middle Eastern CIA holding facility where a detainee is being brutally questioned by CIA lead operative Dan (Jason Clarke). Although squeamish at first, Maya soon falls into her role, determined to get to the bottom of Bin Laden’s whereabouts. Over the next decade, she and her team tirelessly pursue leads to Bin Laden, some of which cost multiple team members their very lives. Maya believes that the key to locating UBL (as he is called) is Abu Ahmed (Tushaar Mehra), his most trusted courier, however Ahmed is a ghost and simply cannot be found. As Maya continues to hammer away at finding Ahmed, a seemingly dead lead, she is told by her supervisor, Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler) to let it go, but she just can’t. When she finally gets the break she needs in the form of intel providing Ahmed’s actual name, she is able to locate his family and eventually his residence, an imposing concrete compound. Could UBL be hiding out inside? Maya is convinced of it and puts her career and even her life on the line to convince the powers that be that they must raid the compound. Maya directs Seal Team 6 and puts her trust in their squadron team leader, Patrick (Joel Edgerton) and his crew to get the job done and history is made when they accomplish their mission.

Zero Dark Thirty is a pretty long movie clocking in at almost 2½ hours, but that time is needed for the viewer to go through the process of watching Maya turn from a quiet young agent to a determined powerhouse hell bent on bringing UBL down. There are a lot of changes that occur over the 10+ years she spends in the Middle East on this mission and a number of people come and go from her life in the Middle East. Jessica Chastain is amazing in her role, as she always is, but the rest of the cast is great, as well. Jason Clarke is downright frightening, while Joel Edgerton and Chris Pratt impress as no-nonsense men of war. It was also nice to see Harold Perrineau (Lost) again.

Overall, Zero Dark Thirty is a tense, dark and powerful look at the greatest manhunt in American history and the people who worked relentlessly to see it happen. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that the general American public never even knows about and director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal (both of The Hurt Locker) shine a bright light on some of these often unsavory processes. Whether you agree with the tactics or not, their effectiveness can’t be argued with as Bin Laden was successfully eliminated and with his death, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief. Zero Dark Thirty might be a bit harsh for some viewers as there are scenes of torture and war violence, but the film had an impact on me and I think its great. I even enjoyed every minute of the special features and I am typically bored by those. The special features cover the making of, a tour of UBL’s compound recreated for the film, Chastain in the role of Maya, and finally, the cast as they train with real life SEAL gear. I was surprised that there were no deleted scenes, but these may have been reserved for the Blu-ray version. Zero Dark Thirty comes highly recommended for those who want a peek into a small part of the resolution of one of America’s darkest times.

Zero Dark Thirty

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