Saturday, January 5, 2013

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow. Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong, James Gandolfini, Homayoun Ershadi, Stephen Dillane. 157 min. Rated R. History/Drama.

The dilemma of a movie based on the hunt to kill Bin Laden, like any history-based drama, is that even though we know the ending, is the film able to maintain the tension till the very end? In this case, the answer is a big fat Yes. The movie's long duration works similar to films such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, where the longer the movie is, the crescendo-like pacing to reach the treasure at the end become increasingly tense and pleasing. I found the final 20 minutes one of the most suspenseful sequences ever. Incredible movie.

Mo says:
MoMagic!

2 comments:

  1. The pacing of the movie is precisely at the sweet spot of being slow enough to appreciate why it took 10 years to find UBL but not too slow to lose your attention.

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  2. I've heard the final 20 minute operation is shown in real time. Works perfectly.

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