Zero Dark Thirty (2013)
87%RT Audience Score: 80%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
85 wins & 174 nominations total
Gripping, suspenseful, and brilliantly crafted, Zero Dark Thirty dramatizes the hunt for Osama bin Laden with intelligence and an eye for detail
Zero Dark Thirty is the kind of movie that makes you want to stand up and salute the screen. It’s a thrilling ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Jessica Chastain’s performance is nothing short of amazing, and the way the film portrays the CIA is surprisingly patriotic. Sure, it’s not your typical Hollywood entertainment, but who needs that when you have a movie this good? Just make sure you don’t watch it as historical record, or you might leave feeling a little disappointed.
Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros.,
Distributor
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Manimajra Fort, Chandigarh, Punjab, India
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong violence including brutal disturbing images, and for language
Year of Release
2013
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS Dolby Atmos
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 37m
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Language(s):English, Arabic, Urdu, Pashtu, French
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 11, 2013 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 19, 2013
Genre(s)
Drama/War
Keyword(s)
Zero Dark Thirty, drama, war, 2h 37m, starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by Mark Boal, produced by Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison, box office gross $95.7M, reviewed by Sara Michelle Fetters, Scott Marks, Candice Frederick, Anna Smith, Jason Bailey, John Anderson, Mirito Torreiro, Ema Sasic, Liz Braun, Mark Jackson, David Walsh, MPAA rating R, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, terrorist attacks, Sept 11, 2001, manhunt, Navy SEALs, Abbottabad, Pakistan, CIA, torture, intelligence, suspenseful, gripping, brilliantly crafted, procedural, hunt for Osama bin Laden, worldwide manhunt, U.S presidential administrations, dedicated female operative, finally locating bin Laden, nighttime strike, killing bin Laden, resources, attention, Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Digital, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Worldwide gross: $132,820,716
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $168,728,535
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 788
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 18,400,058
US/Canada gross: $95,720,716
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $121,598,623
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 624
US/Canada opening weekend: $417,150
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $529,926
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,392
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $40,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $50,813,921
Production budget ranking: 783
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $27,363,297
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $90,551,317
ROI to date (est.): 116%
ROI ranking: 877
Jason Clarke – Dan
Joel Edgerton – Patrick
Jennifer Ehle – Jessica
Mark Strong – George
Kyle Chandler – Joseph Bradley
Director(s)
Kathryn Bigelow
Writer(s)
Mark Boal
Producer(s)
Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
85 wins & 174 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Sound Editing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (305) | Top Critics (74) | Fresh (278) | Rotten (27)
[Zero Dark Thirty] is one of the great cinematic procedurals ever made.
April 26, 2020 | Rating: 4/4
Sara Michelle Fetters
MovieFreak.com
TOP CRITIC
When it comes to establishing and maintaining tension, there wasn’t a better American genre picture released this year. Refrain from viewing it as historical record and you won’t leave disappointed.
October 28, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Scott Marks
San Diego Reader
TOP CRITIC
… it is Chastain’s performance, as restrained as it is powerful, that may just be the cherry atop this massive and meticulous film.
September 7, 2017 | Rating: A-
Candice Frederick
Reel Talk Online
TOP CRITIC
This doesn’t zip along in the manner of typical Hollywood entertainment but it’s memorable cinema with a finale that will stay with you long after viewing.
September 1, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
Anna Smith
metro.co.uk
TOP CRITIC
A great American film: complicated, nuanced, searching, piercing, difficult – and yet thrilling and satisfying all the same.
June 21, 2016
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
Zero Dark Thirty is a magnificent movie, if we ignore the moral ambiguities. But can we?
April 6, 2016
John Anderson
America Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Exhaustive, implacable, rigorous, stripped of any tear-jerking [scenes]. Allowing the audience to judge the scale of values put forth. [Full review in Spanish]
June 28, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Mirito Torreiro
Fotogramas
Bigelow’s film lets viewers decide on their own if the pain, suffering, and carnage were justifiable for the chance to say mission accomplished in 2011.
June 21, 2022 | Rating: 8/10
Ema Sasic
Next Best Picture
Kathryn Bigelow’s tense thriller is worth seeing again just to be reminded how brilliant Chastain is in this role of single-minded operative.
October 5, 2021
Liz Braun
AWFJ Women on Film
What stands out most (in addition to Jessica Chastain’s brilliant performance) is the portrait of the normally mildly maligned (also often portrayed as supremely sneaky and up to no good) CIA-as a bastion of patriotism.
June 12, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Mark Jackson
Epoch Times
With its course of realism over romanticism, “Zero Dark Thirty” offers no slice-of-life, next-door-neighbor stories of Americana.
April 12, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Don Shanahan
Every Movie Has a Lesson
As was the case with The Hurt Locker (2008), where the central figures were US soldiers in Iraq, Bigelow concentrates in her latest work on how exhausting and difficult it is to be a victimizer.
February 12, 2021
David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site…
Plot
Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. She is a reluctant participant in extreme duress applied to the detainees, but believes that the truth may only be obtained through such tactics. For several years, she is single-minded in her pursuit of leads to uncover the whereabouts of Al Qaeda’s leader, Osama Bin Laden. Finally, in 2011, it appears that her work will pay off, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent to kill or capture Bin Laden. But only Maya is confident Bin Laden is where she says he is.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
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