ZERO DARK THIRTY - archive from 6th February 2013.

Saw 'ZERO DARK THIRTY' on Monday night - the much lauded somewhat controversial Kathryn Bigelow offering tracing the hunt for Bin Laden immediately following 9/11 up to the point of his alleged death. 

This is a fairly gritty film showing the London, & Marriott Hotel bombings, suicide bombings, prisoner interrogations, and hard line terrorist extremists doing their thing against the backdrop of the CIA seeking out OBL over a ten year period. 

The film is well crafted almost in documentary style but I would have liked to know more about the 'Man' - family, background, motivation, influences - even if condensed into the opening titles sequence, but no!  Starring Jessica Chastain in the lead role as the CIA Agent tracking down OBL and supported by the likes of Jason Clarke, our own Joel and Nash Edgerton, James Gandolfini, Chris Pratt and Mark Strong this film delivers on many levels, but, when the climax surrounding the finding of his stockade, the midnight storming of it, the clinical attack, the shooting of his henchmen and him ultimately is well handled and suspenseful, but, it's like watching the six o'clock news!

This film subsequently picked up the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing and missed out on three other nominations. Jessica Chastain did however, pick up the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Lead Role. All up it brought in an impressive haul of 67 awards wins and 81 other nominations from around the world . . . clearly striking a chord with judges and audiences.

A must see film because of how recent this is, the way it all changed our world, and what it means to us all to this very day - but is he really dead?? That (for me) still remains unanswered and the film didn't even answer that one satisfactorily! Only you can decide.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-