Zero Dark Thirty (2012) User Reviews

High quality (little action) and realistic depiction of the hunt for Bin Laden

[DopamineNL · 7/10 · 17 December 2013]

It's not an action flick, it's a thriller. About a tough CIA-chick who has a hunch about a guy who might eventually lead them to Osama Bin Laden. It takes her almost 10 years, a little waterboarding, a couple of dead colleagues and a lot of arguing with her superiors, but she manages to follow the lead all the way to the now famous raid in Abbottabad.

It's a very captivating film (even with its 160 minutes runtime), and the big raid at the end is quite intense and realistic. That said, Bigelow's previous 'The Hurt Locker' was (even) better. But it's close!

As for the controversy whether the film is 'pro-torture propaganda' or not: it shows what (likely) happened. A very unpleasant sight for Americans, sure, but that's no reason to leave it out. Whether or not 'OBL' would've been caught without the use of torture is speculation that has no place in this movie (it's a depiction of events, not a moral study).

Some Americans might still find it hard to watch a movie that requires you to form your own opinion about the actions of your country/government/army, instead of getting one spoon fed by those very same institutions. But given the America's options in government- potential it seems a luxury Americans no longer have.

"In the end, everybody breaks Bro. It's biology."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 30 April 2017]

While watching, I began to form the opinion that the character of Maya wasn't a single, specific person who might have 'broken' the case of finding Usama bin Laden. The FAQ board for the film here on IMDb answers that question. Maya, portrayed by Jessica Chastain, was a composite character of several female CIA agents who worked on the bin Laden case, both before and after 9/11. I don't know if knowing that before seeing the picture helps or not.

I thought the picture effectively demonstrated the excruciating detail and frustration of gathering evidence to pin down a shadowy figure like bin Laden. Additional viewings of the picture would probably help in keeping up with the myriad of characters involved on the Muslim side. This is highlighted by the fact that the first Abu Ahmed turned out to be a false lead. A sit up and take notice moment occurred for me when a particular negotiation for information rested on a deal for a Lamborghini.

The most impressive scenes for this viewer involved the storming of the compound in Abbotobad. The harrowing tension one feels while watching the Navy SEALs is juxtaposed by their own relatively calm demeanor in fulfilling their mission. That's probably what was most impressive about the SEAL team performance, composure under duress, even after one of the choppers went down before the mission even started.

I held off watching the film until now because I thought there was more of a political agenda attached to it. One might possibly argue that point with the torture scenes or the seeming incapacity of the upper echelon personnel in the CIA to make a decision, but I perceived the picture almost as if it were a documentary about the planning and execution of a complex mission to take out the world's most notorious terrorist at the time. On that level, I think the film makers did a good job.

Fantastic piece of work

[Macleanie · 8/10 · 18 June 2019]

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I actually did. With its length, complicated nature and incredible detail Zero Dark Thirty was a fantastic piece of work. Jessica Chastain was brilliant in the convincing centre piece of the narrative. It was long, starting strong, losing credit towards the middle but the final hour was terrific. Right down to the raid which was full of suspense and drama. Like the raid itself, it was a precise and scintillating piece of cinema. In the end it felt worth it, I have little interest in the context of its accuracies of the actual events, nor its controversy. In the scheme of things I watched for entertainment, and it delivered. If you're in the mood for something dramatic with a serious tone, watch Zero Dark Thirty.

A Perfect Depiction of the UBL Saga

[pwiesike · 10/10 · 15 May 2013]

I'm not claiming that this movie is 100% factual or even close to it but I think the filmmaker did a brilliant job of chronicling the UBL saga. IMO the theme of the movie in a nutshell is this: We got this guy (maybe?) but at what cost and were we justified? These are not easy questions to answer and they are left open ended for the most part.

The three main criticisms I've come across in the reviews is that 1) The movie is propaganda 2) It glorifies torture and 3) It is factually inaccurate. The third is probably a legitimate criticism but the movie really makes no pretenses about being a documentary and there is a prominent disclaimer at the beginning that it is based primarily on eye-witness accounts (and it is common knowledge that those can be unreliable). Regarding the death of UBL - well the movie even leaves that open ended which is pretty consistent with the actual reported events. We only get brief blurred glimpses of the side of his face and the only definitive identification comes from the 'expert' protagonist who is clearly somewhat derailed and obsessed with the manhunt (and who also stated UBL was at that location with 100% certainty).

That leads in to the first criticism. I fail to understand how this movie can be perceived as propaganda. How does portraying a 10 year ordeal culminating in an unglamorous methodical execution style raid (in which a helicopter crashes and SEALS kill possibly innocent bystanders with machine like precision) where the target's identity is not a even a certainty even remotely constitute a biased pro American agenda? Not to mention that the whole raid is brought about by a hunch and a fluke stroke of luck and not any actual key pieces of information obtained through interrogation (other than a name). If anything luck was the deciding factor in taking down UBL - not American awesomeness.

Now the torture - How does showing torture equate to glorifying torture? Does Braveheart glorify torture too? Again - this had the opposite effect on me. The viewer is forced to confront the unpleasant reality that we tortured many detainees (probably pointlessly) in our desperation to capture UBL and bring him to justice. What was the primary motivation? Revenge? Safety? Do the ends justify the means? Essentially that's the exact question the filmmaker is posing to the viewer by exposing the torture to public scrutiny.

Perhaps this movie just rubs people the wrong way because they find it too sympathetic to government officials. It's easy to criticize to the Government and trust me I am far from an optimist when it comes to American politicians so I do it often. Obviously our leaders were faced with some difficult decisions after 9/11. Did we handle things the best way? Certainly not, but for better or worse this thing played out the way it did and we have to deal with it and move forward.

Superlative political thriller

[jamesrupert2014 · 10/10 · 23 January 2020]

Maya, a tenacious CIA agent (Jessica Chastain) searches for world's most wanted man: Osama Bin Laden, against the background of terrorist attacks against Western targets. Director Kathryn Bigelow does a masterful job of blending tension and action with the sometimes tedious processes of data analysis and surveillance (the film compresses eight years of searching for the 9-11 mastermind into 160 minutes). Chastain is excellent as the driven analyst and the film wisely wastes no time on her life outside the search (i.e. no gratuitous romance, personal affairs, etc). The rest of the cast is also quite good, especially Jennifer Ehle as Maya's colleague Jessica. The lengthy climatic set-piece, as the special-ops team move in on bin Laden's compound near Abbottabad, Pakistan is outstanding. The film was controversial for its depiction of torture (aka 'enhanced interrogation techniques') as an effective 'necessary evil' in the 'war on terrorism'. 'Ends vs. means' arguments aside, 'Zero Dark Thirty' is a riveting adventure with some great action sequences, but I admit that I have a very non-PC love for films like this and that some people might find the film repugnant (especially the first half-hour).

Technically Impressive but Surprisingly Hollow

[Danusha_Goska · 7/10 · 11 January 2013]

"Zero Dark Thirty" is a grim, clinical depiction of the CIA search for Osama bin Laden. Its strongest feature is its dramatization of the Navy Seal Team 6 operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed bin Laden. That sequence is so professionally shot it could be actual documentary footage.

"Zero" has no real plot. Episodic scenes occur in a choppy manner, one after the other. Scenes consist of depictions of beating and water boarding of detainees in order to gather information, agents stalking a suspect in Pakistan's crowded, chaotic bazaars, terrorist bombings, assassinations and assassination attempts. There are also scenes in offices where characters stare intently at computer screens or interrogation videos, and characters yell at each other and use obscenities, as their frustrating hunt for Osama bin Laden wears them down.

"Zero" makes no attempt to draw the viewer in with any human sentiment. Characters are given no backstory and no character arch. CIA agent Maya, played by Jessica Chastain, is the closest the film has to a main character. She reveals no affect. Her face is blank. She isn't so much robotic as inert. We know nothing about her, except that she was recruited to the CIA while in high school – we are never told what would draw the CIA to a high school student. I didn't care about this character at all. All I kept thinking was, "Jessica Chastain is being praised for *this* performance? Why?" The dullness of her performance, and the underwritten character, made it almost impossible for me to lose myself in the story, such as it was.

Jason Clarke is very strong and charismatic as Dan, a CIA interrogator. Dan humiliates, beats, and water boards suspects, and then feeds them delicious meals of hummus and olives when they deliver. His depiction of his work as just another job – he could be playing a bus driver with the same amount and degree of expressiveness – is provocative. I wish I had gone to see a film built around his character and his performance.

Overall, I was disappointed in the film. Feature films are an art form. I want them to do to me what drama can do. I want to be made to identify with a character and I want, through that identification, to learn more about life, or I want to be entertained. "Zero" did neither for me. I wasn't entertained, and my understanding and worldview were not expanded. I think the same material could have been better treated in a documentary with selective re-enactments.

"Zero Dark Thirty" sidesteps key questions. Maya sacrificed years of her life to the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Dan risks his humanity by making his living beating and humiliating other men. Men, women and children throughout the Muslim world, and, as the film makes clear, in America's and Europe's cities, are eager to blow themselves up, as long as they can take some infidels with them. Why? The film doesn't even acknowledge that there are people out there asking the question, never mind attempting to suggest an answer.

The film opens with audio from the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, suggesting that the war between Islam and the non-Muslim world dates from that attack. Not so. Islam increased its territory through jihad from its invention in the seventh century until September 11, 1683, at the Battle of Vienna. After that defeat, Islam stopped its spread. The significance of the date of September 11 goes back over four centuries.

America's founding fathers had to deal with jihad; see Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates. Some argue terrorism, including the 9-11 attack, is caused by Western imperialism. The solution to these thinkers is for the Western world to be nicer to non-Western nations, to practice multiculturalism and to share the wealth. Others argue that jihad is inextricable from Islam, and that one necessary step is for the West to recognize and cherish its own unique virtues – to cherish that for which its spies, soldiers, and citizens fight, sacrifice, kill and die.

"Zero Dark Thirty" never so much as brushes up against these questions. At its key moment, the film is hollow. We all know how the hunt ends – we all know Osama bin Laden is dead. "Zero" might have addressed why Maya gave the time of her life to that hunt, why Dan risked his humanity, why Seal Team 6 trained for years and risked their lives. "Zero" never does consider why these, who might have been the film's heroes, did what they did, and I walked out of the theater oddly unmoved by all the high tension and graphic violence I'd just sat through.

That was 157 minutes that flew by!

[AlsExGal · 10/10 · 22 May 2021]

I wasn't sure how I would feel about such a long film based on recent events, and thus a recent film. I tend to stick to older films. But this was a fantastic thriller. I think it tends to get mixed reviews because it doesn't take a position on torture of the detainees that it portrayed. But nothing would have put me to sleep faster than a bunch of moralizing about what went on. Instead, this captured my attention and didn't let go for the almost three hour running time, although I know how it turned out in the end. Everybody does.

It has a semi-documentary feel and tracks the hunt for terrorist Bin Ladin over a ten year period through two very different administrations - Bush then Obama - and the changing politics and thus rules of engagement of the era. The protagonist - if there is one - CIA agent Maya doesn't want this assignment initially. She is asked how she likes Pakistan. She indicates she doesn't like the place. She seems somewhat queasy when she first witnesses a detainee being water boarded. But if she has a problem with any of this she never voices it past this scene.

My impression was that the function of the torture is to illustrate a point that director Bigelow and the film is trying to make in regards to modern warfare and what a "war on terror" is in the 21st century. In many ways the film is like a companion piece to Fincher's Zodiac in its serialized examination of trying to catch a villain through information and mis-information. Both films aren't so much about the villains as much as they are meditations on information and obsession; they seem to be concerned with what happens when you have too much information, how one differentiates good information from bad information, and what the morality is of seeking information.

Modern warfare and the war on terror is a war on information. What are the first things the SEALs grab when the kill-shot is fired? Hard drives and files. Characters in both films can't seem to see beyond what it is they're trying to obtain and they're willing to ruin their lives, and others, to obtain it.

These characters are obsessed and have tunnel vision They see only their goal. (I think of that scene where Maya watches a drone strike occur on a monitor as she's nonchalantly on the phone with someone.) I don't feel like any story arc was needed for Maya, all I want are the facts, so I don't feel cheated in that sense. I think Bigelow made the right decision by just putting her in there and not giving us much. It's not about her, it's about the hunt for Bin Laden and how it went down. Why she put in the final shot though I don't know.

If you are looking for a good thriller based on factual events, this is terrific edge of your seat entertainment.

Propaganda done properly

[rooee · 6/10 · 28 January 2013]

Zero Dark Thirty is a procedural CIA-based thriller in the mould of TV's Homeland. This film, however, is based on real-life events, so it doesn't have the benefit of being able to withhold in the way Homeland's first series did with Twin Peaks-like delectation. What Zero Dark Thirty does have is a narrative based on first-hand accounts, and it makes no explicit judgement about the content of those accounts. We simply get to see what (apparently) happened during the manhunt for "UBJ".

The film's lack of polemic is both a blessing a curse. It's a blessing because it's rare that a film dealing with such volatile subject matter is depicted procedurally. Usually when a narrative is made ostensibly apolitical it's as a result of an unconvincing moral rebalancing, where the filmmakers go to great lengths to present both sides fairly. But Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow's disinterest is also a curse because, in avoiding judgement, it surreptitiously falls firmly on the side of the CIA. It shows what it's allowed to show, but keeps their secrets ("undisclosed location" and all that); and it portrays the operatives as the honourable front-liners getting their hands dirty (but not bloody), beyond moral reproach by virtue of hard graft. In Bigelow's world, it's the suits in Washington who have the blood in their hands - they're disconnected, as evidenced when torture-specialist Dan (Jason Clarke) returns to US headquarters from the field and loses his nerve, becoming a man of soft probabilities.

Clarke is solid but lost amidst superior talent, as he was in John Hillcoat's recent Lawless. Jessica Chastain delivers a nuanced performance. Driven professionals in films often come across as stolid, but Chastain is an actor of subtlety - even if Bigelow can't help lensing her like a wind-swept movie star in the Middle Eastern magic light. Jennifer Ehle uses her moon-faced radiance to good effect, filling her eager operative Jessica with youthful energy. There's a fair amount of distracting spot-the-cameo going on, particularly toward the end, when Joel Edgerton, Mark Duplass and James Gandolfini turn up.

Bigelow's directorial talent is never in doubt. The final sequence in particular is harrowingly tense, even though we know the outcome. And she generally gets the best out of actors. But make no mistake: this is a deeply patriotic film which is cheering for the home team, and it does so under the guise of objectivity, which makes it more manipulative than flag-waving fare like Last Ounce of Courage or Act of Valor, albeit much more skilfully made.

confused by the hatred

[yjbus · 10/10 · 17 January 2013]

i came into this movie not expecting much after reading all the hatred and i honestly was blown away by both the movie and confusion at the negativity towards it.

i agree that this movie painted a somewhat favorable light towards torture, but it never really once crossed my mind until i read the negative reviews based on it. i'm sorry, but to flat out dislike a movie based on your political/philosophical views probably means you shouldn't be writing a review in the first place.

people also complain about the slowness of the movie. i honestly was riveted by it, from the first minute to the last. every single scene looked to create tension, drama, and purpose towards the goal of catching osama. how is that boring exactly? if anything, i felt the director was too shallow in that the movie seemed to favor over-dramatizing and simplification of the movie in favor of entertainment value; it was too entertaining if anything. i wouldn't have minded a more complex, subtle, and intelligent plot development.

as far as character development goes, i agree that there wasn't much of it, but again i didn't even care until i read the negative reviews about it. i'm confused, because i thought this was a movie about the capture of osama bin laden, not shawshank redemption. the editing, characters, and pacing were very sharp and deliberate and they were supposed to be like that for the purposes of the movie and the content. the lack of character development in favor of a relentless pace and focus towards one singular goal to me 'was' the movie and i loved it for it.

honestly, i'm dumbfounded by the negative reviews. i didn't want to like this movie. i was tired that night and i'm getting old and fall asleep frequently in movie theaters. this movie earned my attention and i was on the edge of my seat until the end credits. i've watched all the major movies this year and this is, in my opinion, the best film of the year.

Dense, Valid and Sometimes Riveting, it Frequently Gets Lost in its Own Material

[drqshadow-reviews · 7/10 · 12 January 2013]

This (slightly) fictionalized dramatization of the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden is often difficult to watch, for a variety of reasons, but that doesn't mean it isn't any good. It's just not your typically polished, glistening Hollywood rendition, and that takes a bit of getting used to. Flubbed lines are left in the final cut, which serves to humanize the cast. Quiet, unsuspecting character moments are unforgettably interrupted by sudden explosions of violence - effectively mimicking (or so I have to imagine) the bloodrush of a real-world terrorist assault. The methods of torture employed in America's hunt for Al-Qaeda's leader are brazenly featured, as are the mixed spoils of their occasional success. The first act points a firehose of information at the audience, leaving them just as overwhelmed and buried by minutiae as the lead. Jessica Chastain is fiery and confident in that role, essential traits for the complicated character she occupies, but the rest of the supporting cast fades into the wallpaper when she's around. The actual onslaught on Bin-Laden's compound, which eats up the last hour of the film, is the smoothest and most accessible scene by a longshot, remaining factual and vividly lifelike while also ratcheting up the pacing and the tension. As a whole, though, the film is well-acted and effective, but often slow and over-inflated. Though it paints just one side of the story, it refrains from drawing any final conclusions and instead leaves the viewer to deal with the validity of America's motives and methods.

Shocked how real the raid look

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 2 November 2013]

Maya (Jessica Chastain) is a CIA analyst who won't rest from the hunt fro Bin Laden. Director Kathryn Bigelow has followed the hunt from 9-11 to the tension filled raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The movie is based on the true events. There is a relevant question of how true to the events is the movie. Unlike most movies, this is actually an important question.

Most of us have no hope of knowing the true facts that actually happened. This movie is certainly a possible reality. Some of it is probably wrong. They've probably changed some of it to not reveal CIA trade craft. Others looks different than what's been reported on the news. However it is overall following the story already laid out for the public.

The hunt for Bin Laden can meander and not follow a straight line. It doesn't really built like a normal movie. Bigelow is still able to maintain the tension throughout the movie. The last 40 minutes is where this movie truly excels. The raid in Abbottabad is incredibly tense. The Hollywood flashiness is mostly removed. It takes its time. It's done almost in real time. It has the intensity of realism. It's shocking how real the raid looked.

No Easy Decade

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 5 January 2013]

Greetings again from the darkness. Kathryn Bigelow entered the realm of elite directors when her war thriller The Hurt Locker exploded onto the Oscar scene a few years ago. Once again she proves why the critics adore her, and the movie going masses stay away. She is an expert filmmaker, a brilliant technician, though not much into the whole entertainment scene.

We always try to label films and this one doesn't quite fit as thriller or action, or even war, genre. It's really a tense, procedural drama focusing on the behind-the-scenes CIA hunt for Osama bin Laden. In fact, it's mostly the story of one obsessed CIA agent's research and un-wavering pursuit of the one most responsible for the tragic events of 9-11-01 (as well as many others).

The film started out as a story of the nearly decade long pursuit and the failure to find him. Everything, including the movie, changed on May 2, 2011 when Navy SEAL Team Six pulled off the daring and historic mission to kill bin Laden. The book "No Easy Day" by Mark Owen (pseudonym for real life SEAL Matt Bissonnette) was released and many of the details became public. Bigelow and her writer Mark Boal (former journalist) went even deeper into research mode and now the film has instigated Congressional hearings in regards to some of the scenes.

Bigelow presents this as old school, hard core males vs the intellectual, instinctive and brazen Maya, played by Jessica Chastain. In the book, she is referred to as "Jen", but her name matters not. What's important is her laser-like focus for almost 10 years, despite the numerous attempts by her superiors to ignore her theories.

Much of the film deals with the group meetings and presentations to CIA mid-managers, who either don't trust her or refuse to put their own careers on the line. Maya remains relentless. She finally gets a audience with CIA Director Leon Panetta (played by James Gandolfini) and introduces herself as "the M*****F****R who found this place, sir". This comes across as confident, not disrespectful.

Bigelow and Boal refuse the temptation of providing any real backstory or personal life on these characters. We do learn that Maya was recruited right out of high school, so we can assume she wasn't a typical 18 year old. The only thought of a romantic interlude is quickly shot down by Maya proclaiming (in so many words), she's not that kind of girl.

Most of the men in the film are presented as near Neanderthals. Jason Clarke is the old school field agent who has mastered the use of torture, water-boarding and humiliation to gain information from detainees. The "60 Minutes" clip of Obama saying that America will no longer utilize torture is one of the few tips to national politics that the film offers up. The only politics are those played by station chief Kyle Chandler, who is protective of his job, and Mark Strong, who seems relatively helpless without the support of his superiors. All this while Maya keeps pushing and pounding for action.

The Langley vs Field work provides a distinctive line in the sand between the two worlds, and emphasizes just how easy it is to make a mistake in judgment. What if we had been wrong on the location of bin Laden? What if the "fortress" had belonged to a drug dealer instead and the SEAL team had invaded a private home within the boundaries of supposed ally Pakistan? Jessica Chastain is believable and tough in her role, and Jason Clarke dominates the screen in his early scenes. Other fine support work comes courtesy of Edgar Ramirez, Mark Duplass, Harold Perrineau, and Jennifer Ehle. When we finally get to the strategy session for the mission, we meet SEAL's played by Chris Pratt and Joel Edgerton. The 25 minutes or so dedicated to the helicopter mission are filmed as if we are wearing the same night-vision goggles worn by the brave souls storming the castle. It's a very impressive sequence.

If you enjoy the details of a procedural drama, then you will find much to like here ... knowing the ultimate outcome doesn't affect the suspense one bit. However, if you seek an entertaining respite from your daily grind, this one will offer no assistance ... despite another excellent and minimalistic mood score from Alexadre Desplat.

Zero IQ Thirty

[askarali · 5/10 · 4 February 2013]

I totally agree with the blog posted on Dawn.com regarding this movie by Nadeem F. Paracha.

Zero Dark Thirty', was quite an experience. Though sharp in its production and direction and largely accurate in depicting the events that led to the death of Osama Bin Laden, it went ballistic bad in depicting everyday life on the streets of Pakistan.

With millions of dollars at their disposal, I wonder why the makers of this film couldn't hire even a most basic adviser to inform them that

1: Pakistanis speak Urdu, English and other regional languages and NOT Arabic;

2: Pakistani men do not go around wearing 17th and 18th century headgear in markets;

3: The only Urdu heard in the film is from a group of wild-eyed men protesting against an American diplomat, calling him 'chor.' Chor in Urdu means robber. And the protest rally was against US drone strikes. How did that make the diplomat a chor?

4: And how on earth was a green Mercedes packed with armed men parked only a few feet away from the US embassy in Islamabad? Haven't the producers ever heard of an area called the Diplomatic Enclave in Islamabad? Even a squirrel these days has to run around for a permit to enter and climb trees in that particular area.

I can go on.

Incredibly Gripping

[yem777 · 10/10 · 15 January 2013]

This movie isn't for everyone. It isn't for people who are vehemently anti-torture. It isn't for people who need a feel-good story with a happy ending. That being said, this movie had me literally on the edge of my seat for 2 1/2 hours and is a fantastic f-ing movie.

People will want to compare this movie to the hurt locker, which is fair in the way that it locks you into scenes and is a war movie. The hurt locker was more of a pure war movie, whereas Zero Dark Thirty uses more dramatizations and has a more coherent direction, while still being an incredibly suspenseful movie.

Some people might criticize this movie for a lack of character development, but they are really missing the point of this movie. It's not your typical Hollywood movie that introduces a protagonist and develops him/her until the conflict is resolved. This movie is about tracking and killing Osama Bin Laden, and the way they used the main character as a metaphor for America as a whole was really impressive, even while refraining from your typical, often boring character developing scenes.

Much more than your average action movie, Zero Dark Thirty was a combination of badass scenes, phenomenal editing, and music, and a fantastic (mostly) true story with epic scope that I can't wait to see again. This is the BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR, and this is coming from a huge batman fan who also just saw Django Unchained a week ago.

Superb

[grantss · 10/10 · 19 April 2014]

Superb espionage/military-drama from Kathryn Bigelow (who directed the even more impressive The Hurt Locker). Details the search for and elimination of Osama Bin Laden.

Tight, intriguing plot. Excellent direction from Bigelow - the tension is built, and even though you know how it ends, it stays incredibly engrossing throughout. You hardly realise that the movie is over 2 1/2 hours long, the high level of engagement is so constant and the pace of the movie so perfect.

Great performance from Jessica Chastain in the lead role. Good support from Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong and Jennifer Ehle. Minor parts for Joel Edgerton and James Gandolfini.

An exhilarating man-hunt phenomenon.

[jodenband21 · 7/10 · 13 January 2013]

Zero Dark Thirty is possibly another great breakthrough film by director Kathryn Bigelow. It's about the hunt for the infamous terrorist Osama bin laden, which was dead as we all know. The purpose of marketing this film is because of how nerve-wracking it was to know that Bin Laden is finally been dealt with and people would be eager to find out on how did the ambush became successful. Like myself, I am eager to explore the dangers and the accomplishments that the Americans risked to be involved in the most successful manhunt in the US history.

The film is not only great at dramatization purpose, it's also great journalism. The film starts with a concise dash of the 9/11 bombing which was lately rumored that Bin Laden was on play. Then two years later, a lone-wolf CIA agent named Maya (Jessica Chastain) is focusing solely on the al-Qaeda who has spent her entire career for it. She is assigned to work with Dan (Jason Clarke) on a black site in Pakistan to interrogate Anmar (Reda Kateb) to who has several links with Saudi Arabian bombings.

Chastain's uses her acute awareness of every facial expression and vocal intonation to humanize and add authenticity to a defiant, hard-nosed CIA analyst who tells the US Secretary of Defense, "I'm the mot***r who found this place (Bin Laden's hideout)."

Maya is not a young woman you would care to have a dinner conversation with but she does have a no bullsh*t attitude needed to hunt down the elusive Bin Laden in a country she offhandedly describes as "kinda all f***ed up".

Over the course of the decade long manhunt, Maya transforms into a post 9/11 Captain Ahab of sorts. According to the movie's director, Maya is a fictional character partly based on a CIA operative that led the US Navy Seal team that killed Bin Laden.

Zero Dark Thirty is directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow and written by Marc Boal, the same team behind 2008's The Hurt Locker. There has been controversy that the duo received "top-level access to the most classified information in history" as well as over the film's graphic use of torture from sexual humiliation, waterboarding, confinement in a tiny box to bloodied beatings.

Several inaccuracies in the portrayal of enhanced interrogation techniques have been cited by a CIA veteran and concerns have been raised that the movie promotes the use of torture. Bigelow has responded to these criticisms stating that depiction of torture is not an endorsement and reiterated Boal's comment that the movie is "not a documentary".

Screenwriter Marc Boal does a commendable job of condensing 10 years of intelligence gathering into a 2 ½ hour thriller. Though the first half of the movie does stretch a bit too long, the momentum immediately picks up once Maya locates the courier who leads the CIA to a compound in Pakistan.

It's fascinating how the CIA exhausted all possibilities in their attempt to determine the identity of an unknown third adult male living in the compound. The CIA considered obtaining DNA, such as from a toothbrush, but all the garbage was burnt. When their target stepped outside for fresh air, he was always hidden under the cover of thick leaves in the garden. They even started a vaccination program and sent a doctor to the house to get blood samples.

It's interesting to note that this movie was in development for many years and that the ending was rewritten due to the successful mission last May that killed the al Qaeda leader. The last half hour of the movie, as the US Navy Seals assaulted the hideout in the dead of night, is an incredibly riveting and suspenseful movie experience even when we know how it ends. It's hard to imagine how else the movie could have concluded.

However, above all else, the only memorable moment of the film is the final payoff, no doubt about that. Many viewers will think of this as just a predictable notion of a movie where Bin Laden will die. It's hard to make a film about something that just happened which makes the resulting action inevitable, but the whole narrative is compelling and less jaded despite this criticism.

The death of Bin Laden brings a certain sense of closure to Americans as well as for Maya having spent a decade of her life hunting the world's most wanted terrorist. In the final scene, she boards an empty military plane and the pilot asks the lone passenger "Where do you want to go?". She takes a moment for reflection. As she is overcome with emotions and thoughts, tears start to run down her cheeks. So where do we go from here?

A companion piece for visiting UBL's compound

[fabiogaucho · 8/10 · 9 October 2017]

I've lived in the Muslim world for years and in Pakistan for a few months. Now some friends came to stay and the one place they decided they HAD to see was the empty plot of land where once stood Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. Three hours to go, three hours back, some pictures and a story to tell (the movie says the city is 45 minutes drive from Islamabad, but that was back in 2010 - not now!).

Once we came back we were so involved with the story of the raid that we had to see Zero Dark Thirty (for the 2nd time for me, 1st for them). The killing of UBL is meticulously reconstructed, but only covers the last 30 minutes of the movie. Most of the story involves a CIA semi-fictional agent who by sheer determination and luck convinces the Agency that Bin Laden can be reached, and that they have a good idea of what men is the key to his whereabouts: Ibrahim Sayed, AKA Abu Ahmed Al-Kuwaiti. Information from detainees suggests Sayed is UBL's courier. Our hero figures that, wherever in Central Asia UBL is, the one thing he is sure to have is a courier. Track him, you get the big Kahuna.

The Agency is initially unlucky to believe erroneous intelligence saying Sayed is dead. And then they are lucky to find out he is not dead. With a lot of push from our hero, they allot the resources to find him. It is no easy task. That's my favorite part of the movie. Surveillance technology can find out from where he is calling his family (busy districts in the Punjab), but it is a lot more tricky to follow him in the middle of the crowd to the place where he lives.

After tracking Sayed to a VERY suspicious compound in a city the CIA never expected Bin Laden to be, it is time to decide if this is really UBL's residence. But the mysterious inhabitant never shows his face. I don't think he was hiding from CIA cameras, he just knows he is so recognizable. So the decision is left to the higher-ups, to bomb the place, raid it, or just keep waiting for more definitive intel.

And that is the part where the Director has to make a dramatic decision. Does she show the President and his top aides deliberating? I think putting Obama, Clinton and Biden in the movie would suck all the air out of the room to the detriment of the focus on the field agents. Leon Panneta shows up, but he is not even named. The final act wrote itself, because it is a documentary-like recreation of the raid.

Some reviewers pointed glaring mistakes: the Pakistanis seem to be speaking Arabic instead of Urdu. One part I had to laugh was when a mob stood outside the American Embassy in Islamabad. If you have been there, or anywhere in the diplomatic compound, you know it would never happen.

It is hard to make suspenseful a story that unfolds throughout 10 years and involves meticulous collection of intelligence and a lot of false starts. So the movie may feel like a "boring procedural" for people who are expecting normal Hollywood fare. In order to add a personal touch to the main character, she has a fried killed in a highly implausible scene. Otherwise, Maya just remains a stock character you have to fill in the gaps: lonely woman married to her job, always having to prove herself, obsessed with a task her superiors don't want to give priority.

Some people pointed out to a big lie of the movie: that torture gave crucial information. I'd point out that it is just a half-lie. Yes, nobody gave useful intel for the killing of UBL under torture. However, keeping terror suspects for years under dubious legal status (say with me - Guantanamo!) paid dividends.

Torture

[roastmary-1 · 7/10 · 21 December 2012]

It has been established, it wasn't torture or, quoting that dishonest euphemism, "enhanced interrogation" that took the intelligence community to Bin Laden. So, how is it possible that this film by intelligent people would perpetrate that lie? The film is technically brilliant but it becomes tedious because, naturally, we know the ending. The other strange fact is the casting of Jessica Chastain. She seems elsewhere, emotionally and otherwise. I couldn't connect with her, I was far too aware of the "acting" I see she's getting lots of acting nominations, I don't quite get it. Katheryn Bigelow at the helm does a truly extraordinary job, but I can't help, worrying that most people will take this as fact and, perhaps, the most important aspect is pure fiction. No tortured prisoner took us to Bin Laden, okay?

Better than Argo

[[e-mail] · 10/10 · 16 May 2013]

I've seen all the reasons viewers (and some critics) dislike this film, but in my opinion it is infinitely superior to ARGO in its authenticity and dramatic quality. The final scenes, when the SEAL team, goes into Ben Laden's house, are brilliantly rendered. The idea of doing it mostly in the dark with flashes of illumination by "night vision" green is a brilliant touch, which most directors would never have attempted.

The performances by Jessica Chastain, of course, Jason Clark and Jennifer Ehle are top drawer and the torture scenes, while brutal, are necessary--because that's the way it happened. Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal for getting it right.

I don't want to put the knock on Argo, because I found it entertaining. But it's artificiality provides a distinct contrast with Zero Dark Thirity's authenticity, and authenticity wins.

Watching a movie

[markleonard0131 · 7/10 · 15 April 2016]

When I watch a movie, the last thing I would judge it on is Politics.

Also, it amazes me how personal people on here can become.

I thought it was a good movie.

The actors came across as credible.

It showed some of the ugly sides of war.

The story kept me alert.

It kept me awake.

It isn't perfect, however, which movie is? And at the end I felt fulfilled.

At the end, I guess you see what you want to see...

The Straightforward Hunt

[billygoat1071 · 10/10 · 13 January 2013]

One's appeal for Zero Dark Thirty is to see how it depicts the search for Osama Bin Laden like it seems too impossible to find him, like he's probably already dead, or almost doesn't exist. Even though there are controversies going around and some revelations, the story is still all dramatized. Without a surprise from director Kathryn Bigelow, the film is totally electrifying and deliberately engrossing. There is humanity left in the end that made this a lot more compelling, but that's the last thing we should talk about. It never backs away from the promise and stays focus on the mission. Zero Dark Thirty is a powerfully gripping thriller.

It's a straightforward mission and only about the mission. We can see the main protagonist's obsession of capturing Bin Laden even without showing any backstories. She's brave, probably too brave, enough on what she's doing. They have to make difficult decisions to where are they gonna go or who are they gonna find. The film is indeed a dramatize version of the ten year hunt. It plays too much suspense and sudden shock, but no matter what, every tragic event are still portrayed in a completely terrifying way.

There is no doubt this film will fall into a controversy. It features a torture scene that many think they justify it. It is so talked about and was against it but it seems the scenes only exists nothing more than showing that sort of truth. The most awaited part of the movie is indeed the climax. Just like anyone would imagine, it's a silent and mercilessly violent raid. There's a lot of humanity in the character Maya. As much as she aggressively wanted to find her target, she still cannot stomach any brutal interrogation and tragedy happening on her associates and other people. Jessica Chastain manages to weigh all of her personalities. Other strong actors like Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle, and Mark Strong keeps their roles effective as well.

Kathryn Bigelow's prominent style is slick tension. Here she displays danger in any place where the characters go like something will suddenly explode or a loud gunfire. The action scenes is filled with suspense. One of the sequences can be tad too ridiculous for this movie but it didn't ruin a single thing to the experience. When it takes place inside the CIA or a meeting, it gets undeniably absorbing. The screen writing makes sure it's factual enough and interesting.

People's expectations might mislead them. Zero Dark Thirty is not only about finding and killing Osama Bin Laden but it's also about one's obsession and revenge to this terrorist. In the end, there's plenty of guilt to express but that proves that they are still human beings. We could merit its brilliant filmmaking and strong storytelling that made it feel like we're part of the search. We all know this is just a dramatization of the true events but all the horrifying truths like the violence stays to the picture. It's a story with nobody calling themselves heroes even though they defeated their enemy. It depicts the darkest parts of its history. Some might wonder how worse it could have been but ignoring all the commotion, Zero Dark Thirty is still a compelling thriller.

Oh, the ironies

[honyltd · 6 January 2013]

Zero Dark Thirty, an ambiguous title, never explained, is a metaphor for the movie itself.

Beyond the sheer heroism of the Seal team responsible for the ultimate assault, a product of superior men, hand-picked for a team which is called upon for only the most dangerous pursuits, everything else is as ambiguous as the title.

Never before has celluloid been as TWO dimensional as this movie was depicted. We learn nothing of the main characters, a full two-thirds of the movie setting up the eventual assault through the exploits of a heroine who speaks like Rambo, but looks like a "Bond" girl.

It is incredulous to believe that she was recruited out of high school. Is this where the modern CIA finds their best applicants. Did she excel in showing a propensity for killing, or as a dogged pursuer who was a human "bloodhound"? Don't worry, it is never explained.

The ultimate capture seems more a product of dumb luck, than any organized plan. In fact, there are moments we are reminded that the actual hunt promised by Bush, was long forgotten, if it weren't for the actions of one woman who would not stop looking. It was almost as if she was autistic, an idiot savant with one skill, never giving up, but not for any reason that is explained. Jauvert in Les Miserables at least gave his reasons for his single-minded pursuit.

If anything, this movie is one of ironies. No one doubts the malevolence of a man who would plot to kill so many Americans, and did. Then again, this movie never went into the rich fodder of moral ambiguity in the manner that that the Bush Administration ginned up false evidence to turn a terrorist act, a nation-less act, into a war that also killed thousands of innocents in Iraq.

You learned nothing about Bin Laden, his motives, his rationale. You never saw the President, just the liaisons between the CIA, pictured as almost the Keystone cops, hardly inspiring.

The movie was a cardboard cutout, the scenes depicted in chronological order like a security tape with the running time at the bottom. It had no pacing, skipped all over the world and picked mere dates in time, when things happened, no more than a cinematic scrapbook called, "How I killed Bin-Laden".

What is lost so ironically in this movie, is the morality that made "Lincoln" sear the pain of moral ambiguity into anguish. Here, there are just "drone-like" CIA personnel, doing a job, never stopping to see the conflicts between the Geneva Convention, the War Crimes we punished after WWII, and their bullying tactics, ordained by men like Dick Cheyney, as heartless as the movie was.

Cheyney, Bush, Rumsfeld and the Neocons turned a national tragedy into a war for plunder while our Nation was mourning and confused. Movies like the "Green Zone" with Matt Damon have shown how false the intel was to support a war against a Country that administration wanted to wage so badly, only needing a "Pearl Harbor-like excuse" to exploit, and kill innocent civilians, and countless brave American soldiers for false WMD.

The real bad guy was killed off here. What did we learn? The CIA hires, and then "retires" it's no longer needed operatives. I'd say, just ask Hussein and Bin Laden, both on the CIA payroll, but they were retired by "The Company", permanently. Oh, the ironies....

Five stars as a great Mock documentary. No passion, no feelings, except a numb feeling leaving the theater.

Bigelow's Masterpiece?

[seanebuckley · 6/10 · 11 January 2013]

Zero Dark Thrity is the new movie from Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow who has enjoyed a rich and varied career to date which will surely be swamped under the weight of opinion lumped on this picture. She is a highly adept film-maker and the aforementioned Hurt Locker might just be the finest example of a war movie since Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. Zero Dark Thirty is a different beast altogether. It is a fact-based account of the events leading up to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Its a touchy subject which is largely handled with great care and aplomb by the cast and film-makers. Thats not to say the movie is perfect, its actually far from it.

The movie is talky without being overly analytical or detailed. I learned nothing from the 157 minute runtime that i couldn't find out in 20 minutes on the web, but maybe that's the point. The word chronicle is often bounded around when talking about Zero Dark Thirty. Chronicle is defined as 'A factual written account of important or historical events in the order of their occurrence' and thats precisely what the film is and not a touch more. There is no meat offered to the viewer by way of engaging character or story development, indeed, the film is mostly an anti-cinematic experience aside from the last 20 or so minutes.

An interesting counter point is the popular 'Homeland' show which also charts a driven female CIA agent as she tracks a known and dangerous terrorist. Its true that both works have completely different end-games but it is interesting to note just how far removed the two are. Homeland is purely for entertainment purposes and Zero Dark Thirty strives to be factual and relevant. I would argue that Zero Dark Thirty could have never won over every critic and begs the question, can you really expect to make a piece of solid entertainment about tracking and killing Osama Bin Laden? The answer is no. They would have been surely lambasted for glorifying a potentially inflammatory event (please see Oliver Stone's dreadful 'World Trade Center'). Therefore, we are left with this glossy, extremely well made, pseudo-documentary which is never particularly involving or like-able.

Also with all due respect, Chastain can count herself very lucky to have just been nominated for best actress. She was surely a shoe-in for the Oscar nod for just turning up here as the film lends itself, due to its 'factual' nature, to receiving the adoration of the academy. Her performance, much like the film, barely exists but to prop up and relay the events. She cries when people die and she is cast iron in the face of a male dominated, scary world but she is barely a character in her own right. People aren't talking about Maya's dominance of the screen, they are talking about the half-truisms of the events themselves. I'm not asking for any meaningful superfluous back story or exposition but i wanted to see her out of the situation, if just for a few minutes. As an audience we need to know the characters aside from them telling us what is going to happen in the movie. Don't get me wrong, Chastain does nothing wrong here, its more a problem with the writing or maybe just with the style of movie they were trying to make here that breaks her for me. Another interesting counter-point is Ben Affleck's excellent Argo. Here we have a movie based on some pretty harrowing true events but its handled with a cinematic eye. Affleck takes some liberties with the truth in Argo but what he does make is a piece of cinema that excites the audience, involves you in the picture and the characters completely and most importantly stays with you after the fact. I felt nothing at Zero Dark Thirty's conclusion, even when watching Chastain cry, i didn't appreciate the action or care. I didn't feel anything for her character, i knew her about as well as i did Osama Bin Laden (movie equivalent of course).

I think my main problem was with the point of the whole exercise. Its a film that sits on the fence, never glorifies or revels nor does it offer any comment or insight. So what then was the point? Do we really live in a world where is it necessary to make a film about every important event in history? How is this any different to watching a fluffy news story? Do we really need attractive people on the silver screen for people to give a sh*t about whats going on in the world? I hope not.

All of that being said, Zero Dark Thirty is never an exercise in patience, it rumbles along at a steady pace and if all your looking for is a chronicle of events post 9/11 you'll find a lot to be interested in. I just cant shake the question, what was the point?

Ehhh... seriously?

[weeatphish · 5/10 · 30 January 2013]

I was honestly expecting a lot more, given the multiple nominations for awards. I really thought this movie was overdone and could have been pared down by at least 45 minutes. In the end, it was just a glorified "we killed bin laden" pseudo-documentary. The character relationships never developed and seemed empty. And I didn't really find the main actress very believable or that great. Scenes of shooting dead bodies also were probably a bit too much -- overall this movie seemed overly nationalistic and simplistic without delivering much in the way of content. I thought Hurt Locker was a significantly better movie. Again, I am somewhat surprised at the number of award nominations this movie received.

Powerfully enacted story that knows to grab the viewer

[jayjaycee · 9/10 · 28 June 2020]

"Zero Dark Thirty" is a 2012 political thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow starring Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001 are on of the most tragic events in the history of the United States of America, if not in the history of mankind in general. Whether you are American or not, this bloodcurdling day is still etched in the minds of the people. On this day only, terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda, with Osama Bin Laden leading the way, has taken the life of almost three thousand innocent Americans, and to this day, this tragedy in the beginning of the new millennium remains a day of remembrance. Shortly after these devastating happenings, every intelligence in the USA was ordered to track down and kill Bin Laden, to let him pay for what he has done. After he seemed to have vanished for multiple years, the CIA was able to eventually chase down the notorious leader of the terror network and take him out, after more than a decade-long search. This tragic story and especially how they started out with nothing are exactly what director Bigelow re-enacted with this stunning film. Beforehand, I knew that it was tough material and that it was going to be a Herculean task to depict the full vehemence of this true story, but I was sure that the director would be capable of doing it justice. Earlier this month I watched one of her earlier works, "Point Break", and two years ago I have already seen here first collaboration with Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker" and that was enough for me to be persuaded that it is going to be as packing as the previously mentioned titles. Funnily enough, this film and I share a past, even though I have never seen it before. Around the time I have watched her award winning, Jeremy Renner fronted war thriller in 2018, I also had purchased this film here, but had kicked it down the road ever since. I always wanted to give it a spin in summer season, but in both 2018 and 2019, fall has come before I was able to check it out. I am not quite sure why, whether it was the long runtime or the subject matter that requires the viewer to be in a certain mood, but I never got around doing it. Only after I heard so much good things about it and it was directly recommended to me recently, I finally settled the score and gave it a watch. Oh boy, I kind of hate myself for not having watched it earlier. As I expected, Bigelow and Boal in fact made a cinematic achievement that is unlike many others. Aside from the fact that she again assembled a star-studded cast for her project, she was also able to enact the sheer intensity and complexity of the story and makes it look like the easiest task in the world. What impressed me the most to see though, that it wasn't only the glorification of probably the biggest revenge campaign in the history of the USA, but also shone a light on the shady side of this infamous operation and tackled all kinds of emotions one could feel in this context. Aside from real voice recordings, telephone calls and voice overs of news from that very day that turned out to have been used without permission, the film also depicts delicate details the US government probably didn't want to surface. As if the first minutes of black screen haven't hit me deeply enough, the sequences were detainees were tortured by CIA agents in order to receive information from them were gut-wrenching as well. I mean, who doesn't cringe at someone who is illegally waterboarded? Anyways, from there on I knew I was in for an uncompromising political thriller that doesn't mince matters in the slightest, because those two mentioned sequences were only approximately ten minutes of this two and a half hours behemoth. To be honest, my biggest fear that this film would be lengthy at times fortunately turned out to be false. Any minute less would have been insulting, as this film knows to grab its audience and not bore it out. Jessica Chastain is flat-out magnificent as the protagonist, the determined CIA operative Maya who eventually is responsible for the success of this whole operation. Her impressive performance leads the viewer through this well constructed battlefield of a plot, and with this film (that should have granted her the well-deserved Academy Award) she once again reminded me why she is one of my favourite actresses in the business (the scene she confronts Kyle Chandler's character? Boy, love her so much!). Speaking of plot, it is by far one of the most outstanding scripts I have ever seen in my entire reviewing career. It deals with an undeniably complex subject matter and still made it both, sophisticated and yet easily comprehensible. I am probably not the only one who doesn't have a notion about those kind of secret intelligence operations and researches, hence it was terrific to see that they managed to make it clear for a mainstream audience, and on top of that, extremely intriguing to follow. It is outstandingly paced and built up and calls a spade a spade. In everything it depicts, it is realistically merciless and doesn't hesitate to even tackle the hardest parts of this undoubtedly intense story. To the smallest detail, the viewer gets to witness everything, the successes, and the failure, until it peaks in the final act that is easily the most sensational sequence of the already outstandingly crafted movie. In the last roughly half and hour, Bigelow depicts the storming of Bin Laden's compound, also known as "Operation Neptune's Spear", and enacts it so powerfully that it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The way the film captures the whole operation, it didn't feel like I was watching a work of fiction and sat in my own room, it rather felt like I was in the situation myself. Like it has been the case in this film already all the time, this was only possible thanks to three key factors: cinematography, sound, and direction. DOP Greg Freiser knows to handle the camera and enable it to capture the rawest form of vehemence that underlies every single scene. The same applies to the stunning editing and sound score that know to support this emotion as well. All of that wouldn't be as marvellous as it is without the phenomenal direction of Kathryn Bigelow who coordinates all those elements and weaves it together like it was the easiest task on earth. Oh, and the end is also worth the mention for what emotions it has caused in me. Even though I was of course aware that Bin Laden has been successfully killed in this operation, it was alleviating to see that they indeed tracked down the right man. I am not even American, but this short but significant scene made me patriotic for a country I don't have the slightest connection with. As if that satisfaction wasn't already enough, we also get another scene that wraps up the role of our beloved protagonist Maya. After identifying the body as her main target, she is flown out back to the states, as she then has no task anymore. That was indeed a heart-breaking sequence, as she breaks out in tears, for she has spent most of her life on this one man and hence feels like she has no purpose anymore. I don't know if that was really important to the plot, but it unexpectedly touched me. All in all, this outstanding political thriller combines everything it needs to do this real story justice and treat it with respect. It doesn't omit a detail and narrates this story in a powerful manner and is also near perfect in terms of cinematic qualities. Lead by a brilliant Chastain, the star-studded cast knows to make the merciless story come to life in all its facets and still extremely enjoyable, nevertheless. It is complex, complicated, and yet, easy to follow, and most importantly, magnificently build up, well-paced and using its indeed long runtime superbly. All this is the work of outstanding director Kathryn Bigelow who seems to be the Hollywood counterpart of King Midas, as everything she touches turns to gold. An outstanding film, a phenomenal political thriller, and a title that everyone should have seen at least once, as it is film making par excellence. I am literally in awe for this cinematic achievement and wish I had seen it earlier. Don't make the same mistake I did and go watch it now if you haven't already. Simply Marvellous cinema.