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Zero Dark Thirty

  • 2012
  • Tous publics
  • 2h 37m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
334K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,360
150
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Watch the final theatrical trailer for Kathryn Bigelow's chronicle of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Play trailer2:34
9 Videos
99+ Photos
DocudramaPolitical DramaPolitical ThrillerDramaHistoryThriller

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.

  • Director
    • Kathryn Bigelow
  • Writer
    • Mark Boal
  • Stars
    • Jessica Chastain
    • Joel Edgerton
    • Chris Pratt
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    334K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,360
    150
    • Director
      • Kathryn Bigelow
    • Writer
      • Mark Boal
    • Stars
      • Jessica Chastain
      • Joel Edgerton
      • Chris Pratt
    • 821User reviews
    • 586Critic reviews
    • 95Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 85 wins & 174 nominations total

    Videos9

    Best Picture Nominee
    Trailer 2:34
    Best Picture Nominee
    U.S. Version #2
    Trailer 2:16
    U.S. Version #2
    U.S. Version #2
    Trailer 2:16
    U.S. Version #2
    U.S. Version -- #1
    Trailer 1:15
    U.S. Version -- #1
    Zero Dark Thirty
    Trailer 2:03
    Zero Dark Thirty
    Zero Dark Thirty: The Meaning Of Zero Dark Thirty (Featurette)
    Featurette 1:20
    Zero Dark Thirty: The Meaning Of Zero Dark Thirty (Featurette)
    Zero Dark Thirty: Compound (Featurette)
    Featurette 2:56
    Zero Dark Thirty: Compound (Featurette)

    Photos187

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    + 181
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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Jessica Chastain
    Jessica Chastain
    • Maya
    Joel Edgerton
    Joel Edgerton
    • Patrick - Squadron Team Leader
    Chris Pratt
    Chris Pratt
    • Justin - DEVGRU
    Mark Strong
    Mark Strong
    • George
    Jason Clarke
    Jason Clarke
    • Dan
    Reda Kateb
    Reda Kateb
    • Ammar
    Kyle Chandler
    Kyle Chandler
    • Joseph Bradley
    Jennifer Ehle
    Jennifer Ehle
    • Jessica
    Harold Perrineau
    Harold Perrineau
    • Jack
    Jeremy Strong
    Jeremy Strong
    • Thomas
    J.J. Kandel
    J.J. Kandel
    • J.J.
    Wahab Sheikh
    • Detainee on Monitor
    Alexander Karim
    Alexander Karim
    • Detainee on Monitor
    Nabil Elouahabi
    Nabil Elouahabi
    • Detainee on Monitor
    Aymen Hamdouchi
    Aymen Hamdouchi
    • Detainee on Monitor
    Simon Abkarian
    Simon Abkarian
    • Detainee on Monitor
    Ali Marhyar
    • Interrogator on Monitor
    Parker Sawyers
    Parker Sawyers
    • Interrogator on Monitor
    • Director
      • Kathryn Bigelow
    • Writer
      • Mark Boal
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews821

    7.4333.5K
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    Featured reviews

    8SnoopyStyle

    Shocked how real the raid look

    Maya (Jessica Chastain) is a CIA analyst who won't rest from the hunt fro Bin Laden. Director Kathryn Bigelow has followed the hunt from 9-11 to the tension filled raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The movie is based on the true events. There is a relevant question of how true to the events is the movie. Unlike most movies, this is actually an important question.

    Most of us have no hope of knowing the true facts that actually happened. This movie is certainly a possible reality. Some of it is probably wrong. They've probably changed some of it to not reveal CIA trade craft. Others looks different than what's been reported on the news. However it is overall following the story already laid out for the public.

    The hunt for Bin Laden can meander and not follow a straight line. It doesn't really built like a normal movie. Bigelow is still able to maintain the tension throughout the movie. The last 40 minutes is where this movie truly excels. The raid in Abbottabad is incredibly tense. The Hollywood flashiness is mostly removed. It takes its time. It's done almost in real time. It has the intensity of realism. It's shocking how real the raid looked.
    8fabiogaucho

    A companion piece for visiting UBL's compound

    I've lived in the Muslim world for years and in Pakistan for a few months. Now some friends came to stay and the one place they decided they HAD to see was the empty plot of land where once stood Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. Three hours to go, three hours back, some pictures and a story to tell (the movie says the city is 45 minutes drive from Islamabad, but that was back in 2010 - not now!).

    Once we came back we were so involved with the story of the raid that we had to see Zero Dark Thirty (for the 2nd time for me, 1st for them). The killing of UBL is meticulously reconstructed, but only covers the last 30 minutes of the movie. Most of the story involves a CIA semi-fictional agent who by sheer determination and luck convinces the Agency that Bin Laden can be reached, and that they have a good idea of what men is the key to his whereabouts: Ibrahim Sayed, AKA Abu Ahmed Al-Kuwaiti. Information from detainees suggests Sayed is UBL's courier. Our hero figures that, wherever in Central Asia UBL is, the one thing he is sure to have is a courier. Track him, you get the big Kahuna.

    The Agency is initially unlucky to believe erroneous intelligence saying Sayed is dead. And then they are lucky to find out he is not dead. With a lot of push from our hero, they allot the resources to find him. It is no easy task. That's my favorite part of the movie. Surveillance technology can find out from where he is calling his family (busy districts in the Punjab), but it is a lot more tricky to follow him in the middle of the crowd to the place where he lives.

    After tracking Sayed to a VERY suspicious compound in a city the CIA never expected Bin Laden to be, it is time to decide if this is really UBL's residence. But the mysterious inhabitant never shows his face. I don't think he was hiding from CIA cameras, he just knows he is so recognizable. So the decision is left to the higher-ups, to bomb the place, raid it, or just keep waiting for more definitive intel.

    And that is the part where the Director has to make a dramatic decision. Does she show the President and his top aides deliberating? I think putting Obama, Clinton and Biden in the movie would suck all the air out of the room to the detriment of the focus on the field agents. Leon Panneta shows up, but he is not even named. The final act wrote itself, because it is a documentary-like recreation of the raid.

    Some reviewers pointed glaring mistakes: the Pakistanis seem to be speaking Arabic instead of Urdu. One part I had to laugh was when a mob stood outside the American Embassy in Islamabad. If you have been there, or anywhere in the diplomatic compound, you know it would never happen.

    It is hard to make suspenseful a story that unfolds throughout 10 years and involves meticulous collection of intelligence and a lot of false starts. So the movie may feel like a "boring procedural" for people who are expecting normal Hollywood fare. In order to add a personal touch to the main character, she has a fried killed in a highly implausible scene. Otherwise, Maya just remains a stock character you have to fill in the gaps: lonely woman married to her job, always having to prove herself, obsessed with a task her superiors don't want to give priority.

    Some people pointed out to a big lie of the movie: that torture gave crucial information. I'd point out that it is just a half-lie. Yes, nobody gave useful intel for the killing of UBL under torture. However, keeping terror suspects for years under dubious legal status (say with me - Guantanamo!) paid dividends.
    7DopamineNL

    High quality (little action) and realistic depiction of the hunt for Bin Laden

    It's not an action flick, it's a thriller. About a tough CIA-chick who has a hunch about a guy who might eventually lead them to Osama Bin Laden. It takes her almost 10 years, a little waterboarding, a couple of dead colleagues and a lot of arguing with her superiors, but she manages to follow the lead all the way to the now famous raid in Abbottabad.

    It's a very captivating film (even with its 160 minutes runtime), and the big raid at the end is quite intense and realistic. That said, Bigelow's previous 'The Hurt Locker' was (even) better. But it's close!

    As for the controversy whether the film is 'pro-torture propaganda' or not: it shows what (likely) happened. A very unpleasant sight for Americans, sure, but that's no reason to leave it out. Whether or not 'OBL' would've been caught without the use of torture is speculation that has no place in this movie (it's a depiction of events, not a moral study).

    Some Americans might still find it hard to watch a movie that requires you to form your own opinion about the actions of your country/government/army, instead of getting one spoon fed by those very same institutions. But given the America's options in government- potential it seems a luxury Americans no longer have.
    8Macleanie

    Fantastic piece of work

    I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I actually did. With its length, complicated nature and incredible detail Zero Dark Thirty was a fantastic piece of work. Jessica Chastain was brilliant in the convincing centre piece of the narrative. It was long, starting strong, losing credit towards the middle but the final hour was terrific. Right down to the raid which was full of suspense and drama. Like the raid itself, it was a precise and scintillating piece of cinema. In the end it felt worth it, I have little interest in the context of its accuracies of the actual events, nor its controversy. In the scheme of things I watched for entertainment, and it delivered. If you're in the mood for something dramatic with a serious tone, watch Zero Dark Thirty.
    7drqshadow-reviews

    Dense, Valid and Sometimes Riveting, it Frequently Gets Lost in its Own Material

    This (slightly) fictionalized dramatization of the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden is often difficult to watch, for a variety of reasons, but that doesn't mean it isn't any good. It's just not your typically polished, glistening Hollywood rendition, and that takes a bit of getting used to. Flubbed lines are left in the final cut, which serves to humanize the cast. Quiet, unsuspecting character moments are unforgettably interrupted by sudden explosions of violence - effectively mimicking (or so I have to imagine) the bloodrush of a real-world terrorist assault. The methods of torture employed in America's hunt for Al-Qaeda's leader are brazenly featured, as are the mixed spoils of their occasional success. The first act points a firehose of information at the audience, leaving them just as overwhelmed and buried by minutiae as the lead. Jessica Chastain is fiery and confident in that role, essential traits for the complicated character she occupies, but the rest of the supporting cast fades into the wallpaper when she's around. The actual onslaught on Bin-Laden's compound, which eats up the last hour of the film, is the smoothest and most accessible scene by a longshot, remaining factual and vividly lifelike while also ratcheting up the pacing and the tension. As a whole, though, the film is well-acted and effective, but often slow and over-inflated. Though it paints just one side of the story, it refrains from drawing any final conclusions and instead leaves the viewer to deal with the validity of America's motives and methods.

    Jessica Chastain Through the Years

    Jessica Chastain Through the Years

    Take a look back at Jessica Chastain's movie career in photos.
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    Related interests

    Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network (2010)
    Docudrama
    Martin Sheen in À la Maison Blanche (1999)
    Political Drama
    Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in Les Hommes du président (1976)
    Political Thriller
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Liam Neeson in La Liste de Schindler (1993)
    History
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The movie was originally about the unsuccessful decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden. The screenplay was completely re-written after bin Laden was killed.
    • Goofs
      During the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, some neighboring houses are shown with lights going on in different rooms as the neighbors become aware of the activity in the compound. In Mark Owen's book, "No Easy Day" and also in the reports on the raid from the New York Times, all the electricity in the neighborhood had been cut a short time before the start of the raid.
    • Quotes

      Maya: [to Navy SEALs] Quite frankly, I didn't even want to use you guys, with your dip and velcro and all your gear bullshit. I wanted to drop a bomb. But people didn't believe in this lead enough to drop a bomb. So they're using you guys as canaries. And, in theory, if bin Laden isn't there, you can sneak away and no one will be the wiser. But bin Laden is there. And you're going to kill him for me.

    • Crazy credits
      The filmmakers wish to especially acknowledge the sacrifice of those men, women, and families who were most impacted by the events depicted in this film: the victims and the families of the 9/11 attacks; as well as the attacks in the United Kingdom; the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan; in Khobar, Saudi Arabia; and at the Camp Chapman Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan. We also wish to acknowledge and honor the many extraordinary military and intelligence professionals and first responders who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
    • Connections
      Featured in Chelsea Lately: Episode #6.187 (2012)
    • Soundtracks
      Pavlov's Dogs
      Written by Charles Maggio, Keith Huckins, Andrew Gormley, Nick Forte III and Chris Laucella

      Performed by Rorschach

      Courtesy of Gern Blandsten Records

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    FAQ31

    • How long is Zero Dark Thirty?Powered by Alexa
    • Is there a tune copied from the Telugu film Leader?
    • What does Maya write (or draw?) with red marker on the office window? (about 1:50:15)
    • What is 'Zero Dark Thirty' about?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 23, 2013 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • India
      • Jordan
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • English
      • Arabic
      • Urdu
      • Pashtu
      • French
    • Also known as
      • La noche más oscura
    • Filming locations
      • Manimajra Fort, Chandigarh, Punjab, India(Abottabad, Pakistan)
    • Production companies
      • Columbia Pictures
      • Annapurna Pictures
      • First Light Production
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $40,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $95,720,716
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $417,150
      • Dec 23, 2012
    • Gross worldwide
      • $132,820,716
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 37m(157 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
      • Datasat
      • SDDS
      • Dolby Atmos
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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