Zero Dark Thirty

Osama Bin Laden is a coward, a bastard, and one of the most inherently evil people in history.

That statement doesn't really have too much to do with my review, I just wanted to make sure that if they get internet reception in the deepest, most painful pits of hell that he can see what the world thinks of him. Have a terrible eternity Mr. Laden! :-) 

Now onto something more important! The new user poll in the side. Thank you for all of the votes last time and keep up the good work! I absolutely LOVE seeing your guys' opinions!

And finally onto the review of one of the most talked about movies of the year, Zero Dark Thirty. Unfortunately this film was also plagued by an utterly stupid "limited release" but worry not, it is now in wide release so that everyone can go see it. And I suggest that absolutely everyone does (and to all of my conservative friends and family members: no, it does not give hardly any credit to Obama. I think they refer to him maybe once throughout the entire movie. Just an FYI).

Like a rat hiding in a hole...

I think the biggest question that I should be addressing is whether or not Zero Dark Thirty deserves all of the hype it is getting. As seen with director, Kathryn Bigelow's previous film, The Hurt Locker, there is an absurd amount of support from critics and awards committees for her films. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed The Hurt Locker, but it didn't deserve near the amount of praise it was receiving, nor the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Sadly, Zero Dark Thirty is also largely overhyped, although I enjoyed it more than I did The Hurt Locker and that's probably because the subject matter is infinitely more interesting, or at least to me it is. CIA operations, real life spies, black sites, classified information...all that stuff just totally rocks my socks off.  

Now that's an iconic movie still if I
ever did see one...

Zero Dark Thirty claims to be completely based on a true story and it shows that Bigelow did a TON of research and sought out the help of several real life CIA spies, Seal Team 6 members, and other officials to recreate the story in immense detail. The CIA is vehemently denying the film's accuracy so that makes me believe all the more that it is true. And quite honestly, I think that is the most mind-blowing part about this movie: is that it all actually happened. There were a couple times where I was in my "this is just a movie" mindset and then I stopped, thought about it, and realized that somewhere, over the last 8 years, that all of this was happening. I was just a normal kid going to high school and then to college, but half a world away all of this crazy stuff was happening. To say the least it really makes you appreciate the people and the lengths that they will go to protect this country and avenge it. 

And you thought Act of Valor had realistic military scenes. 

A really strong performance by Chastain.
She grew on me a lot throughout the film.

Zero Dark Thirty picks up two years after 9/11 and immediately introduces us to Maya, played by Jessica Chastain. She is young and a "killer" according to Washington, so she is sent to Pakistan to find out where Bin Laden is. We follow her for 8 years as she continuously devotes her life to the man. Between this movie and Homeland (which I know is fiction) I feel like the CIA just hires people with obsessive personalities. Maya is a lot like Carrie from Homeland except without all the mental issues and love story. Maya is all about her work. Nothing else and certainly nothing more. It actually leads up to a somber ending once *Spoiler* Osama is killed (seriously that wasn't a spoiler, get over it) and she realizes that she has no idea what to do with her life now. Throughout the 8 years we are reminded of several events like the London bombing, the Marriott bombing in Pakistan, the failed Times Square bombing, etc. and we see how they are all connected to not just the terrorist cells, but to this woman's job. There was certainly a light amount of mind-blowing going on for me. There has been a lot said about Chastain's performance: that it is a tour de force, Oscar worthy, etc. etc. I thought it was phenomenal. With that being said, I dont see it as being that hard of a role to portray. She did a great job with what it was, I'll even say she did a near-perfect job. But ultimately Maya is relatively normal person doing an immensely important job...it's really not a challenging role, or at least it doesn't seem like it is on paper. But I'm not an actor so what do I know, right?

Our country kicks so much ass.
Especially if you are a terrorist.

Earlier I stated that Zero Dark Thirty is overhyped. And it really is. As fantastic of a movie as it is, it just didn't really move me in any particular way other than thinking that it was super interesting. There are times during the 8 year "hunting" period that get slow and significantly less interesting and there are areas that could withstand some trimming. As far as technical aspects go, the movie is well done in every way, shape, and form, but none of those ways, shapes, or forms particularly stood out to me. Is the cinematography good? Yes. Is it great? Ehhhhhh. Is the sound editing good? Yes. Is it great? Ehhhhhh. You get my point. I will say though that the last 30 minutes depicting the Seal Team 6 raid on the compound is edge-of-your-seat thrilling. And that in and of itself is amazing since we already know the outcome. But I probably haven't seen a more intense scene since the airport in Argo. And in this period of time the cinematography IS amazing and the sound editing IS great (as is everything else)

So what the Rath's Review final verdict on Zero Dark Thirty? It's overhyped by the critics and awards committees (it is currently in the top 25 movies of all time on Metacritic.com based on its 95 Metascore). But everyone and their mother should see it. If you ever are lacking in faith in the country that we live in and the people (not the politicians) who are protecting it, it's people like Maya who will restore your faith. 

Pros:

• Interesting nearly the entire way through. To know that practically everything in the movie is true makes it amazing
• All performances are strong, particularly Chastain's. I wouldn't say it's Oscar worthy, but fantastic nonetheless
• Production values all around are good. Again, none in particular stand out, but none are bad either
• A smart script. I didn't really realize it until after the movie, but it has a way of explaining a lot in little amounts of dialogue and is funny at exactly appropriate moments
• The last 30 minutes is intense and I have no idea why. Kudos to Bigelow for making something where we already know the outcome edge-of-your-seat worthy

Cons:

• Throughout the first 2 hours it loses steam several times. It's never boring per say, but just less interesting
• Based on all of the trailers I thought it was going to have an amazing original score. Nope. Absolutely forgettable in that department, which is a huge shame
• The way it is put together takes some getting used to. It is split up into chapters that are indicated by title screens several times throughout. It took me a while to figure out that this was happening
• At times it does a great job letting you know when during the last 8 years things are happening and other times I had no idea what month or year the movie was in. For a movie like this I would have preferred to know exactly when we are at all times

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10