3/5 stars

It was only a matter of time before somebody somewhere decided to immortalize the killing of Osama Bin Laden and here it is: Zero Dark Thirty. Ballsy CIA agent Maya follows a very complicated and violent breadcrumb trail in the hope of finding and killing Osama Bin Laden whilst shouting and pissing everyone off a lot. The film opens by reminding us, slightly unnecessarily, of the events of 9/11 and the consequences it had for the Middle East. We are then transported to the aforementioned East where we are forced to watch a CIA top dog commit some pretty atrocious acts of violence against a suspected terrorist. The violence is unending and pretty consistent throughout the entire film, but don’t worry it’s all done in the name of protecting the homeland. Ok, that’s all right then.

We then jump around the Middle East a lot from Pakistan to Afghanistan to Jordan. All the while a lot of names and pictures are thrown about until we’re no longer actually sure who we’re suppose to be tracking down, whose dead or what country we’re supposed to be in. After much confusion, we discover the compound of Bin Laden. It’s at this point that the film changes tack going from spy thriller to G.I Joe. Bullets are fired, helicopters descend and as history and America will constantly remind us Osama Bin Laden is terminated. The title of the film lends itself well to the content. It’s dark. Very dark. It’s also very difficult to follow, but if you manage to get your head round all of this, the film’s not half bad. Nevertheless, Academy Award winner Bigelow does sort of make you question, ‘We’re waterboarding people and we’re supposed to be the good guys?’

Joanna Bateson-Hill