[Rob Babcock]

I can't say enough about this film!  Aside from The Hurt Locker I know nothing of Kathryn Bigelow but she has amazed me for a second time.  I'm not sure how much of the movie is fact and how much is a fictionalized version of events (and probably won't until a FOI act in a couple decades sheds some light) but everything in the film is plausible.  It's amazing how much genuine suspense is generated; just as with Argo the events are well known, so we all know "how it ends."  Even so, I was enthralled.  And while I'm not sure how much running time was occupied by the raid on UBL but I doubt I breathed during the entire operation!

Jessica Chastain is flat out amazing.  Where has she been all these years?  I only remember seeing her once before in Lawless.  From IMDB I see that she's been out there for years but flew under my radar.  Without seeing Jennifer Lawrence in SLP, I'll go out on limb and say Chastain will win the Oscar for Best Actress.  Her portrayal of the tenacious and single minded CIA analyst was really superb.

I loved this movie and it will be a must-have for me when it hits Blu-Ray.

[S Clark]

After 20 minutes, I was asleep.  After thirty minutes, I was snoring, the wife poked me; she stayed, I walked out. This is the first movie I've walked out on in my 60 years.  I'll try it again when it comes to Netflix.  My wife enjoyed it and recommends it. Jessica Chastain bored me to death in the first 30 minutes that I sorta saw.  But she was great in "The Help",  "The Promise", and pretty good in "Tree of Life"- all from last year.  "Where has she been..."  Rob, where were you last year?
Oh well, different strokes for different folks.  Go see Les Mis- in my town, no one walked out and many were sniffle-ing into their hankies. 

[Letitroll98]

I'm not sure how much of the movie is fact and how much is a fictionalized version of events (and probably won't until a FOI act in a couple decades sheds some light) but everything in the film is plausible. 

A bit of an aside, but the CIA threat analyst's name portrayed as "Maya" in the film was widely publicised as were her actions on both a PBS documentary and a Nat Geo documentary.  Now all references to the real person and to those documentaries have been redacted from the internet.  You can't find anything.  We do know that she has received multiple death threats and is on several al Qaeda assassination lists, so has been sequestered by CIA operatives, and her protection is most certainly the reason for this cover up.  Interesting for debunkers of conspiracy theorists that history can be so cleanly and quickly wiped.   

[rollo]

This movie will only insight the bad guys. Should never have been made . Spiking the football in their face will come back to haunt us.


charles

[Rob Babcock]

I dunno.  Those that want to attack us have a lot better reasons than a Hollywood film.  Again, this may or may not an accurate depiction of the events, but what they do portray is shown warts and all.  There's a scene early in the film where Maya is involved in an interrogation of a prisoner; the interrogation is pretty extreme.  As a fresh young field agent Maya winces in obvious disgust as the prisoner is water boarded and subjected to incredible abuse.  Her disgust is played as visceral- it's not that she doesn't believe it's worth it, just that she's not acclimated to it.  In my eyes Bigelow isn't trying to condemn "enhanced interrogation" nor condone it, but rather portray it in the context in which it took place.  She leaves the viewer to decide.

I really loved the film and was on the edge of my seat at several points.  Will you like it?  Hard to say.  A few nights ago I decided to watch Super 8 on Blu-Ray.  By around 45 minutes or so, at the part where the sheriff is getting gas, I simply couldn't take any more of this insipid film and turned it off.  Is it a bad film?  I found it akin to watching paint dry but most of the critics liked it.  Film is a pretty subjective hobby.

[wushuliu]

Jessica Chastain is flat out amazing.  Where has she been all these years?

Busy being Ron Howard's daughter.

Seriously.

[Doublej]

Busy being Ron Howard's daughter.

Seriously.

You sure?

http://www.chastaincentral.com/content/jessica.html

[django11]

Busy being Ron Howard's daughter.

Seriously.

Not  http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20501772,00.html

[Chazro]

I thought it was a great movie, certainly not for everyone (especially someone that prefers Le Mis).  Bill Maher made an interesting point about how the Golden Globes were very good to the movie and Homeland (and another show/movie sharing these themes that I can't recall), commenting on what this generally has to say about the viewing habits of the American public at this point in time.  In general he's a blowhard, but it's an interesting point.  I did a dbl feature when I saw ZDT and also saw Gangster Squad. now THAT was a lousy movie! 

[Rob Babcock]

Well, I may lose some film snot cred but I enjoyed Gangster Squad.   It was deeply flawed but I'm a fan of nearly everyone in the cast.  Hell, maybe I was just in the mood for a popcorn flick.  The reviews were unkind so my expectations were low.  Often that has a lot to do with whether or not you enjoy a flick.

[konut]

This movie will only insight the bad guys. Should never have been made . Spiking the football in their face will come back to haunt us.


charles

They were going for the double secret fatwah.

[Emil]

They were going for the double secret fatwah.

Yeah, instead of just being really, really, really pissed, they're going to be really, really, really, REALLY pissed

[decal]

I dunno.  Those that want to attack us have a lot better reasons than a Hollywood film. 

Since when do fanatics need a "better" reason to do what they do?

[Folsom]

Anyone who knows about Osama Bin Laden's health prior to 9/11 would have trouble believing he was even alive, so he could have been killed. The only people that directly confirmed it was Osama Bin Laden are dead now...

There for I assume this movie is sill propaganda. Death threats?  From whom, and not whom they say they are?

Still could be a good movie.

[Rob Babcock]

Well, I'm pretty confident that the raid (the real one) killed UBL.  Conspiracy theories abound, so if that's your thing have fun with it.  As for the film being "propaganda" that's a stretch.  Bigelow's films haven't pleased the military at all- it seems her films don't fit the narrative they desire, so they've refused to allow her to use military equipment gratis to make her films.  The big/loud/dumb films that wave the flag and portray the military in a flattering way (eg. Battleship, Transformers) are allowed to use taxpayer supported military assets.  Therefore I'm not sure what would be gained by her for trying to sell their narrative for them. 

At any rate, if you've seen the movie you'd understand that's not what she's doing.  Since the events of 9/11 where the biggest news stories in the West since maybe Pearl Harbor I think it's fair to say that the death or capture of UBL is a pretty significant news event, worthy of a film treatment.  She takes the core of a news story and creates a film from it.  I don't know how much it true but the film works very well.  Again, just my $.02.

[Folsom]

Like I said, could be a great movie.

The armed forced saying they don't like it in particular gives it legitimacy. If they loved it, it would make it look like propaganda in an overt way.

Did the creator intend on making propaganda? Perhaps not at all. By the way I wouldn't call myself a conspiracist at all when it comes to this. The facts of OBL just add up to him likely being dead way prior to this event. It was a good political move to end the boogie man, and gain respect, however.

To me this is much like making a movie about Lincoln, trying to cement the idea that the civil war was about slavery. It isn't that an educated person would think a film is accurate, it is that the public eye begins to accept it anyways.

[Mike Nomad]

ZDT was a good movie, and didn't live up to the hype (good or bad) surrounding it.

However, being merely a good movie from KB is kind of a let down. She's capable of better stuff. The biggest problem with ZDT is that she didn't focus on what movie (with an under three hour run time) she wanted to make: CIA Procedural, or Whack The Beard. Instead, we got not enough of either.

Eh, sometimes it's like that. Maybe next time...