Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Rated: R
Length: 157 min.

I am beginning to think that this was yet another mediocre year for Best Picture nominees, for as I watched Zero Dark Thirty for the very first time this afternoon, I was once again disappointed. This action-thriller portrays a very realistic depiction of the events leading up to Osama Bin Laden's capture; however, it took a little too long to get to that point. With the vivacious acting skills of Jessica Chastain playing the role of the obsessive feminist CIA operative, this film was somewhat intriguing.  On the other hand, the dramatic elements of this film seemed to be underplayed and there was a need for more background information to support the placement of characters in the film. Not to mention the fact that every member of Al-Qaeda seemed to have a name that started with "Abu," and the majority of the rest were impossible to understand. This film could have been condensed to an hour and 45 minutes and reached the same conclusions. For one of this year's best, I was only mildly impressed, and I still think Django Unchained is highly under-appreciated in the world of film. Overall, not a bad film by any means, and most definitely patriotic; but hardly worthy of a Best Picture nomination in my eyes.