Every Kathryn Bigelow Film Ranked From Worst To Best
5. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
A movie centred around the manhunt for Osama Bin Ladin, it makes for an interesting companion piece to Bigelow's The Hurt Locker - made by much of the same key crew - yet whereas that movie followed the grunts in action, this film focuses on the other side of the military desk; the office politics, the arduous research and a exhausting globetrotting mission across twelve years.
Our guide on this journey is the glacial form of Jessica Chastain, a determined CIA analyst tasked with this heavy order as her first assignment. It's an unconventional arc, sparse of backstory, yet for Chastain's character her mission is her life, therefore her life is the mission. Like her or not, she's a deadlocked torpedo whose persistence swayed a government's long abandoned objective.
It all culminates in a breathless final act; a near 30 minute sequence that painstakingly recreates the raid on Bin Ladin’s compound. In contrast to a guns blazing conclusion, it's quiet and slow, yet tense and exhilarating every step.
It's a brave stance Bigelow takes with the whole movie, whether it be the nauseating interrogation techniques or office backstabbing, she present the facts as are and lets lets you refreshingly form your own opinion. It doesn't always make for conventionally satisfying viewing but it's one that works as an accurate and compelling take on the CIA's 'War on Terror'.