Zero Dark Thirty (Navy SEAL Team 6)

[Sully]

Originally Posted by KChiefer

Anyone else see this yet? I was skeptical but watched it last night and thought it was great! ZDT did a great job of showing in under three hours the nonstop struggle our forces have endured over the past decade. There was a lot of effective humor for such a serious subject. While the film was dramatized, thankfully it never goes to the route of "action film."

I couldn't help but draw some parallels to Homeland with the opening being filled with a collage of emergency response radio from 9/11 to Chastain's portrayal of agent Maya, who's a bigger bulldog than Carrie Mathison minus the nuts. She gave a great performance of a character that was nothing like the southern belle in The Help aside from them both being dead sexy!

While I'm not surprised that the depiction of waterboarding is a hot topic about the film, after seeing it, I am surprised about the opinions people have generated of it. Many are saying it portrayed the EIT as working to obtain intel, but to me, the film was ambiguous as to it's effectiveness.

While I enjoyed everything that was in the film, I wish they had spent more time with the seal team. They should have had more scenes with them, including their breifing for the actual raid, and it wouldn't have taken the revealing of sensitive info. The film could have been 30 mins longer without dragging.

I loved the scene when they got the news the op was a go, with symbolism of the game of horseshoes and one of the team having the other's back by catching the football before it hit him. Maya looking at them and knowing all of her work now lays with the baddest chew-spitting, velcro-wearing men on the planet. The final scene was really heart-racing for something where we already know the outcome.

Two thumbs up!

Lastly, James Gandolfini can put on a toupée but will forever be TS with that accent.

I agree with all of this. Just got home from seeing it, and loved the movie. There were a couple of details that, IMO for time's sake, they flubbed, but it was a very strong movie, especially considering how soon after the fact it's coming out.

[KChiefer]

Originally Posted by Sully

I agree with all of this. Just got home from seeing it, and loved the movie. There were a couple of details that, IMO for time's sake, they flubbed, but it was a very strong movie, especially considering how soon after the fact it's coming out.

Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. They researched, wrote, shot, and edited, all within ~17 months. That's impressive...maybe too impressive.

Granted, 80% of the movie was shot in office buildings, but the city scenes felt alive and bustling enough.