My Review: Zero Dark Thirty (9/10)

¨I’m going to smoke everyone involved in the op and then I’m going to kill Osama bin Laden.¨

The passion, determination, and single-minded pursuit of a female CIA operative to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden was the film that the Academy Award winning writer and director decided to pursue after their success in The Hurt Locker. Zero Dark Thirty is so intense and suspenseful that you just want Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal to continue working together forever. They make other modern war films look really bad when held up to the standards of their recent work together. Bigelow has developed such a craft and expertise as a filmmaker that during some moments of the film (especially the final 25 minute raid) you feel like you are watching a documentary of actual footage of the manhunt instead of a fictional film. She is as passionate about her work as her lead character is obsessed with hunting down this man. We can’t argue that Bigelow benefits from Boal’s extraordinary script, which manages to reduce a decade long hunt into 150 minutes of detailed procedural work without taking political sides or focusing on revenge nonsense. It just takes such a realist approach that you never feel manipulated by Bigelow which would have been easy to do considering the subject matter. This is in my opinion the best film dealing with pos 9-11 events thanks to Bigelow’s ability to remain emotionally detached and focus on her craft. Under the weight of the heavy subject matter, she somehow manages to make this film more about a character study than an actual manhunt. There is really one main character in this film as the rest of characters come and go, and without delving into her past and focusing on the decade long pursuit of bin Laden the story centers around her, and it is a very interesting psychological study of what motivates her. Jessica Chastain is just so fascinating in this film, that she single handedly carries this movie and gives the best performance of her career.

The film opens in black with several voiceovers of calls from the World Trade center during the 9-11 attacks. It is a very emotional opening scene as we later are introduced to the main character, Maya (Jessica Chastain), who has been sent to Pakistan by the CIA to hunt down bin Laden. The first place we see her is in an interrogation room where her partner Dan (Jason Clarke) is torturing a terrorist prisoner in order to find information of the whereabouts of bin Laden. Maya isn’t amused by the torture that is going on and doesn’t participate, but she is willing to accept any means necessary in order to unlock the truth and hunt down the man she’s obsessed with finding. Of all the prisoners they have interrogated there seems to be one man that is mentioned by everyone: Abu Ahmed.  Maya is convinced that this man is bin Laden’s personal courier and that if she can locate him then she will locate his leader. Her boss, Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler) isn’t convinced about this theory, but Maya is determined to pursue this lead. The entire film is a very detailed procedural drama of how Maya follows one lead after another (with several false and disappointing leads along the way) until she is able to locate the whereabouts of bin Laden. Her next mission is to convince the authorities that bin Laden is actually hidden in that complex without having definite proof, but her certainty ends up convincing the leaders to send the US Navy SEALS team led by Patrick (Joel Edgerton) to attack the compound and kill bin Laden.

There were a great amount of talented actors cast in this film such as James Gandolfini, Mark Strong, Edgar Ramirez, Mark Duplass, Frank Grillo, and Chris Platt, but they had very few scenes and the entire film centered on Jessica Chastain. She deserves an Oscar for her performance here, and Mark Boal deserves one for Best Screenplay. The entire film is a character study on Maya as her entire life revolves around catching this man. We see it in her eyes from the very opening scene to the very end where instead of experiencing joy for the success she had, all we can see is a sigh of relief. What comes next for Maya? She doesn’t even know as she was so focused and determined on one thing only. I love Bigelow’s style and how she downsizes the entire war and centers everything on one central character. Just like she did in The Hurt Locker where the focus is on Renner’s character and how the adrenaline of war has become an addiction for him; now the focus is on Chastain who is very driven and obsessed with accomplishing her goal. There is not anything else on her mind; it’s as if she lives for one specific purpose. In the end you don’t know if you should cheer for her or feel sorry that her work is done. In a way I felt Bigelow’s approach to the events that led to bin Laden’s death to be very powerful; and it has raised a lot of discussions about torture, but that is exactly what a great film should do: bring up conversations and make us question things at times. After a decade long manhunt, was it really a triumph to kill bin Laden? Was it worth a celebration? Does the end justify the means? Without taking sides Bigelow makes us think about these issues and that is what good movies do for the viewers.    

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My Review: The Hurt Locker (10/10)

¨There's enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable.¨

The Hurt Locker grabs your attention from the very opening scene. It is thrilling and full of excitement. Director Kathryn Bigelow (James Cameron´s ex wife who directed Point Break, the cult classic film for surfers around the world) does an excellent job of putting the viewer right in the middle of the Iraq war. Kathryn doesn´t waste time at introducing the characters, it just puts us right in the middle of a tense situation in where a bomb squad is trying to disarm an explosive device in the middle of an Iraqi street. The tension is felt from that very opening scene and doesn`t stop during the two hours the film lasts. This is without a doubt one of the best movies of the year and recently won best picture at the Critics Awards. This was one of my favorite films of the year along with Inglorious Basterds and Kathryn Bigelow is just as well as deserving as Tarantino for the best director award because she does an excellent job with this war movie. She will have a lot of competition however from her ex-husband Cameron who just made the biggest box office hit of the year with Avatar. I think Bigelow is much more deserving however because she took a genre that has been overused and made an excellent thriller out of it. I know most audiences are tired of watching movies about the Iraq war, but trust me The Hurt Locker is worth your time and will grab your attention from the first minute. I think it is the best war movie made in recent years and I really loved the ending which connects perfectly with the opening quotes the movie presents.

The film is set in Iraq and we are introduced to the action immediately where an American Army Bomb squad is trying to deactivate an explosive device in the middle of a populated Iraqi street. The squad is formed by Sgt. Matt Thompson (played by Guy Pierce from Memento) who has the very difficult task of trying to deactivate the bomb, Sgt. JT Sanborn (played by Anthony Mackie) who is Thompson`s eyes in the mission and is in charge of protecting him from the very hostile environment, and Spc. Owen Eldridge (played by Brian Geraghty) who assists both Sanborn and Thompson in the mission. The team first sends a robotic box to try to disarm the bomb, but things go wrong so Thompson has to go in himself. Thompson isn`t able to disable the bomb in time and it explodes taking his life in the process. The team is devastated by the loss, especially Owen who has to see a shrink, but in war there is no time to lose and they have to continue with their mission. They are introduced to the new replacement, Sgt. William James (played by Jeremy Renner from S.W.A.T.) who proves to be nothing like Thompson. In the team`s first assignment he acts recklessly and disables a bomb with a fearless attitude and wastes no time in listening to his teammates. He has an alternative approach and the team will just have to adapt to his new methods. Jeremy Renner gives a terrific performance and one of my favorite of the year. The success of the movie coincides with his performance and the character he personifies. Ralph Fiennes has a small role in the movie along with David Morse and Evangeline Lilly (from the Lost series), but the less known actors are the ones who have more screen time and they all give great performances.

The success of this movie relies on several factors: Kathryn Bigelow`s direction that allowed her to make a great film out of an overused genre, Renner`s cool performance which allowed the audience to identify and care for the character he created and experience how war had become an addiction for him, and Mark Boal`s original screenplay (he had only written one other movie in the past, In The Valley of Elah) which allowed for some good dialogues. These three elements combined perfectly together to make this one of the best films of the year. Another positive aspect about The Hurt Locker is that it combined several different filming techniques allowing for some documentary style shots at times which gave it a more realistic feeling. I`m a sucker for films that have a good ending and I absolutely loved the ending in this movie which tied nicely to the opening quote of the movie which stated: ¨The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.¨ We find this to be true for Renner`s character after the final conversation he has with his baby. The Hurt Locker is also one of my favorite war movies so I highly recommend this film to all. I guarantee you that it will have you at the edge of your seat during the entire two hours. It is an excellent and near perfect thriller.