Zero Dark Thirty, a fun 2.5 hours on a rainy, cold, Dallas afternoon - Road Warrior - Films/DVD Asylum

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Zero Dark Thirty, a fun 2.5 hours on a rainy, cold, Dallas afternoon

Road Warrior

It's showing here in limited release at two theaters. From what I heard the weekend showings were flat sold out so I caught it midweek. Still a decent crowd, coulda been a group of 60 something audiophiles (lots of balding overweight oldsters in attendance). It was showing in a monster auditorium with XD Extreme Digital sound for $13 freekin bucks. I've got to say the sound fairly jumped outta the screen and was as enveloping, when called for, as any flick in recent memory.
Bigelow did a great job of translating the 10 year old manhunt for and the final resolution of UBL to the screen. Jessica Chastain was her usual great self portraying a CIA analyst whose only job, ever, was fndng him. Lots of nice supporting performances by the always reliable Jennifer Ehle (Contagion). Jason Clarke did a fine job as a CIA agent charged with using enhanced interrogation techniques to extract crucial info for use in the hunt for UBL. Slight spoliers follow but no "giveaways":
Bigelow effortlessly shows the interrogations thoughout Act I without condoning or supporting them. Really, no political statements were made one way or the other. In the book Kill Bin Laden (KBL) much was made of BHO and his staff waffling on whether to execute the raid or not. In the movie, the politicos were portrayed as having reasonable reservations due to the subjectivity of the intel. In hindsight we know those reservations were unfounded but as they were dealing in real time, at least in Bigelow's interpretation they seemed reasonable.
Tension builds thoughout and culminates in the raid on the compound. Even knowing the outcome, I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 30 minutes of the final Act. One slight negative, Bigelow could have focused more of the narrative on the Seal team, perhaps cutting 10 minutes elsewhere and devoting it to the team. As it was, we felt very little empathy for them. It wasn't the actors' fault, there was just zero plot exposition regarding them. This is one area where the KBL book bettered this movie IMHO.
All in all a surefire Oscar contender for Best Piccy, Director, Actress and ancillary awards.
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"E Burres Stigano?"

Edits: 01/09/13 01/09/13

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Topic - Zero Dark Thirty, a fun 2.5 hours on a rainy, cold, Dallas afternoon - Road Warrior 13:27:50 01/09/13 (11)

I'm curious, but could not stomach the propaganda fest - barryb 07:43:38 01/15/13 (2)

Yea, I was thinking you'd be skeptical but Hell, give it a try - Road Warrior 15:43:42 01/15/13 (0)

Then consider it to be pure fiction and go see it unencumbered by allusions to reality (nt) - Steve O 10:44:52 01/15/13 (0)

a bit too much info to take in for the first half but the pace picks up for a terrific ending - PhilJ 16:06:23 01/13/13 (0)

Not bad but not an Oskar Sweeper either . . . . - mr grits 14:01:28 01/11/13 (0)

Loved the XD theater... - tunenut 10:59:15 01/10/13 (1)

Re: Spoilers - Road Warrior 17:21:13 01/10/13 (0)

I sure enjoyed it. Harkins was showing it in the Phoenix Area... - jeffreybehr 10:42:59 01/10/13 (0)

Potential spoilage . . . - mr grits 15:03:18 01/09/13 (2)

RE: Potentia l spoilage - Answer - Road Warrior 16:23:57 01/09/13 (1)

RE: Potentia l spoilage - Answer - mr grits 18:20:25 01/09/13 (0)

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