Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

Title: "Zero Dark Thirty"
By: Samantha Streahle

We've just viewed the film "Zero Dark Thirty." This film follows rookie CIA agent, Maya, on her journey to find Osama Bin Laden after the attacks of 9/11. She spends many years searching, torturing, and hard work attempting to reach her goal. This film will take you through all of the blood, sweat, and tears put into this mission.

After the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the goal of the CIA was find and capture the head of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden. Maya is new to the agency and is assigned the task of finding him. At first witnessing the tactics they use is very difficult for her but she learns to accept that they are necessary. She is faced with many trials and errors throughout her journey. These experiences only make her more determined and lead to her obsession with finding and capturing the master mind behind all of this.

All of the actors and actresses did a good job in retelling the story. In particular, Jessica Chastain, Maya did a phenomenal job. She really gave this part her all physically and emotionally. You could see the stress she was put under in her face and the way she handled things. One of the other main characters Dan, played by Jason Clarke, also did a very good job. He was very adamant in his acting and really had to put any emotions or feelings aside for this part. His character had to torture the prisoners and to be able to do that you have to have little or no conscience. Even though it was just acting it still had to be difficult to fake it.

I really enjoyed this movie because I am interested in learning about the events that took place on September 11, 2001, and the details that not everyone has been made aware of. For the most part the film accurately represented the events that took place in capturing Osama Bin Laden. The only complaint I would have is the scene where they actually shoot and kill him. It is not really made clear that it is him and there is some confusion. No one specifically says it is him and there's just a lot of screaming. They quickly take his body and get back into the helicopter. It all happens very quickly. Aside from the confusion I really enjoyed the rest of the movie.

The main lesson or theme I took out of this film is perseverance. No matter how difficult things got or how much she wanted to give up she never did. The whole team did whatever they could to make the mission a success. It took a lot of time and team work to make the whole thing happen but they never gave up on each other. They went in with a goal and even though it took many years they didn't give up until they reached it.

I feel that anyone would would enjoy this movie. Anyone who is interested in learning more in depth about the attacks on 9/11, like myself, would find this movie to be useful. The majority of the movie was very accurate so you would be able to take a lot out of viewing it. I would not recommend it to anyone who cannot handle violence and very graphic scenes because there were quite a couple. Some of the scene's were very intense but they were realistic. The rating of this movie is R. Overall, I found the movie to be very good and would recommend it to others.

4.8 out of 5 stars

Samantha Streahle is a junior at Sterling High School. She works at Chick-Fil-A and is involved in a total of three sports. Since middle school she has played basketball and softball and has just recently gotten involved in volleyball. When she's not working she enjoys hanging out with her friends. While she doesn't mind just relaxing she also likes adventure and new opportunities.