D – classified information? You came to the right place…
Welcome Back to Rated D!
This week we ventured out into the
desert on a mission to visually confirm the sighting of the new movie "Zero
Dark Thirty". SPOILER ALERT: CIA
operatives spend almost a decade hunting down the elusive terrorist Osama Bin
Laden.
Now before we get started… I liked
this movie, I did. But it is important
to state the seemingly obvious fact that “movies… are movies” and to point out,
that is true, regardless of the subject matter they tackle. Art, I believe, in most of its forms is
important and though “movies… are movies” they can be a number of things to a
number of people such as: cathardic, educational, thought-provoking,
enlightening, mindless entertainment, and, occasionally, life-changing. Sometimes, however, that line between
critiquing a film and passing judgment on the real life events or cultures on
which it’s based gets blurred. For example,
this year’s “Act of
Valor”, a fictional movie which featured actual Navy Seals portraying
servicemen and women on screen, was panned by reviewers for bad acting
performances. In response, some of the
American public chose to call these critics unpatriotic and demand their
resignations. The difference between
live footage and reenactment is vast, regardless of who does the
portrayals. Whether we are talking about
military, politics, science, religion, drama, or comedy or any genre under the
sun, remember “Life is life and movies… are movies”. So enjoy!... Or don't... you get the idea.
September 11th. All it once it seems like 10 years ago and
just yesterday. In previous years, that
day would’ve just been a normal, most likely forgettable day in America, but as
we all know, it infamously became so much more.
And, to no surprise, that’s where we begin our story: sitting in
darkness listening to a dizzying jumble of urgent distress calls from civilians
trapped in towers, emergency responders on the ground, and military personal
trying to make sense of the chaotic events of that morning until a deafening
silence fills the theater. With that
reminder, let the chase begin. The next
couple of hours (and ten years) chronicle Maya, a CIA agent, played by Jessica
Chastain (The Help, Tree of Life) in
her quest to track down the terrorist leader responsible for the events on that
grim day. For the sake of national
security and cinema, Maya, who is known as “Jen” in the book No Easy Day
(which also describes the hunt for Bin Laden), is a dramatized version of a
real CIA operative. She is introduced to
us during the brutal, unapologetic “enhanced interrogation” scene in which
Chastain shows us a quiet beginner whose seemingly weak stomach is outmatched
by her determination to get the job done.
As usual, Jessica Chastain delivers a solid, controlled performance that
matures throughout the rest of the film which, as mentioned above, literally
lasts ten years and, in those cases for acting, pacing is everything.
Director Kathryn Bigelow and
journalist-turned-Screenwriter Mark Boal take us deep into that world that most
of us will never see, but know is out there somewhere in dark, dirty rooms at
undisclosed locations. And though the
film does pull back the curtain and show us those things that we the public “want”
to see, even if we close our eyes or regret it, it doesn’t really take a stand
to preach for or against anything. In
fact, the movie, to me, seemed more like an extremely well acted, well cast
documentary reenactment than a film made for entertainment purposes unlike this
year’s “Argo” or 2009’s “The Hurt Locker” also brought to us by
Bigelow and Boal. At some points,
characters admit that they gleaned little helpful information from the torture
while at other times characters divulge secrets after being interrogated or
simply under threat of torture. Either
way, no one is on a soap box ramming a message down your throat. This is especially true for CIA Interrogator Dan,
played by Jason Clarke (Lawless, Public
Enemies), who we first meet graphically water-boarding a prisoner. Clarke creates a fascinating character who does
this dirty job as effortlessly as ordering at a drive through, but incredibly
comes off as the nicest guy in the world, making it impossible not to root for
him.
As you might have guessed, a movie
about a manhunt for one target spread over a decade is going to be a bit long (157 minutes to be exact) and you feel
every minute of it. I found that as a
good thing though. As they feel helpless
and as those around Maya lose hope, we feel the length of this story… multiply
that by about a million and maybe we’d begin to understand the frustration of
the real life agents, but that’s another story.
Also, it is easy to start drowning in a sea of names and aliases and
cities and agents and grainy photographs and loose ends and dead ends, but
again, I felt like this aided to the frustration of the search even if we all
know what happens at the end.
There are too many to mention
specifically, but I can say that there is no weak link in the cast. Everyone, regardless of the size of their
role, is solid as can be on screen. No
one is too over the top nor are there any huge stars that distract you and pull
you out of the movie.
Finally, in the third act, we join
Seal Team Six in a virtually silent raid on a ghost-like complex and are thrust
into the action as Bigelow shifts back and forth between shadow filled shots
and night-vision. It’s a taut,
twenty-five minutes that keeps us surging towards the main target and we are
ready for it after the long journey we have taken with Maya (who incidentally
must wait on the sidelines blind to the action that we get to watch).
Obviously, due to the source
material and the non-disclosure agreements signed, we can only assume that this
is about as close to the “true story” as we can get in order to protect those
still on the front lines and the methods that they use to accomplish
missions. But still, it gives us a
glimpse into a world and a war that we are all aware exists, that has affected
us all in some way, and attempts to provide us with some facts and maybe even
some closure… as much closure as you can ever have, that is. Even Maya is left at the end of the movie,
when all is said and done, with an unanswerable question, “Where do you want to
go?”
D's Recommendation – 3.5 out of 5 – Definitely A Fascinating Watch.
D's
LIST
To
Balance Things Out…
"Spy
in the Face"
Fun
Spy Movies
1. Spy Hard (1996) – Oh, Leslie Nielson, how we miss you. Who else could’ve pulled off Agent WD-40 AKA
Dick Steele? It is what it is… which is
pretty dumb… but that never stopped Nielson from committing 100% to these types
of characters. Surely, you can find
something to enjoy.
2. True Lies (1994) – Kathryn Bigelow’s ex-husband James Cameron
brought us this one that featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Arnold as super
spies… wait… yep, Tom Arnold. It’s as
funny as it is action-packed and Arnold’s acting performance is actually not
half bad.
3. Top Secret! (1984) – Long ago, children, there was a great actor named Val
Kilmer who could do action, drama, and hilarious comedies like this WWII spy
parody. Now he does about sixteen top
secret movies a year and by that I mean no one has heard of them.
4. Get Smart (2008) – More like get new ideas.
Nailed it. A couple of funny
moments with Steve Carrell and the beautiful Anne Hathawy aren’t enough to make
this tired remake good. And there is
also some oddly hostile commentary on celebrities in politics that make you… eh…
by that point you probably don’t care.
5. Austin Powers:
International Man of Mystery (1998) –
The movie that popularized and ruined the phrase, “Yeah, Baby!” This hilarious James Bond spoof-a-rama
spawned two sequels and left us all thinking that everyone wanted… NAY!...
needed to hear our flawless British accents.
Rated DVD –
Men In Black 3 –
Since I really wasn’t much of a fan
of the second “Men In Black” film, I
really wasn’t all that enthused when I heard they were making this one. In fact, I’m not really sure if it was overhearing
some good reviews or simply seeing Josh Brolin’s awesome impersonation of Tommy
Lee Jones that got me to go, but it actually turned out to be a lot of
fun.
After escaping from a prison on the
moon, the vicious alien Boris the Animal travels back in time to exact revenge
on the man who put him away, Agent K.
Some critics trashed it for being unnecessary… as if the first two were
existential… but I thought it was a fun, harmless little ride with characters we already
like and again, Josh Brolin’s Tommy Lee Jones… it’s fantastic
Next Time on Rated D...
Life of Pi – Life of Pi? Sounds like a... No, I’m not gonna do it… Come on, Man, even you’re better than that.
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