Zero Dark Thirty - A-

Rated R, 157 minutes

Methodical, mesmerizing and tense “Zero Dark Thirty”

“Zero Dark Thirty” is the stunning, mesmerizing and superbly acted thriller about the CIA’s hunt for Osama Bin Laden from Kathryn Bigelow, who tread similar ground in the Oscar-winning “The Hurt Locker.” She again reteams with Mark Boal, her Oscar-winning writer from that film, to provide a puzzling, fascinating and often morally ambiguous look at the U.S. involvement with the tracking of the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Reportedly based on CIA documents and transcripts (they have denied much involvement with the film), the film follows CIA operative Maya (Jessica Chastain), based on a real CIA Officer known as Jen, as she spends 10 years hunting Bin Laden and with the help of U.S. Navy Seals, eventually killing him in Pakistan in May 2011. The engaging, powerful film is essentially split into two parts: the gathering of information, with the use of torture tactics, and then the years spent tracking him and eventually finding him in Pakistan. The film’s initial torture scenes provide a texture of moral looseness, though the film doesn’t really need them to effectively work. “ZDT’s” second half is the far better as it tracks Bin Laden’s whereabouts and the staging of the ambush to finally kill the man behind so much terrorist attacks. Chastain, in a star-making, minimalist yet layered part, is superb as Maya and centers the film in her strongest part yet. With oversize facial features, slender body and flame red hair, her character is far more driven than even she realizes, making Chastain could be the front-runner in this year’s Best Actress Oscar race. She has one of the year’s most memorable movie lines: “And just who are you?” she’s asked. “I’m the mother-f----r who found this place,” she replies. Many of the other CIA agents portrayed in the film are amalgams of real-life characters, the strongest of which is Dan, the torture expert who seems to get anything out of anyone, in a strong performance from Australian actor Jason Clarke, recently seen in “Lawless” (he could be a darkhorse in the Supporting Actor Oscar category too). Watch for Joel Edgerton, Harold Perrineau, Mark Duplass, Mark Strong and Kyle Chandler in small but memorable roles, along with a fun cameo from James Gandolfini as current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Bigelow, in a another strong directorial turn following “Hurt Locker,” along with Boal, wisely steer away from political/moral preachiness to center the film on one point: finding Bin Laden, and in such a methodical, fascinating way that it rarely feels dull. With that focus in mind, the film is well-constructed and while slightly overlong, Bigelow keeps the pace moving along swiftly and you may not feel the film’s 157 minutes. The final 20 minutes of “Zero Dark Thirty,” when the manhunt finally concludes at Bin Laden’s compound, is among the most breathtaking and intense seen in film over the last year. “Zero Dark Thirty” is among the year’s best films and should figure in heavily in the film awards’ race season in many categories.

 Wes’s Grade: A-