Zero Dark Thirty

It retells the story of how bin Laden was hunted down and killed. I already knew all this stuff from watching the news when it was happening, but I guess it's interesting to see it all put together in one story.

Beyond that I'm not seeing why it got so much attention. It looks good, but it's 2024. Every movie looks good now. The story is stuff that's important to know but not terribly compelling. Beyond just recounting what really happened it has a fictional plot about a girlboss CIA analyst which is the weakest part of it. I really did not give a shit about her.

Just kidding. I'm not stupid. I know it got so much attention because anything Kathryn Bigelow makes is very important. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but the only thing she did in this that I found notable was making about 1/4 of it torture. It's a weird choice to make. There was lots of different sources of intelligence that led them to bin Laden, but she makes it seem like they basically just tortured it out of one guy. It never shows a normal interrogation, implying that your choice is just to torture or do nothing. I don't know if he would have talked just as soon if they gave him some cigarettes instead. Nobody knows because they didn't try it. But for some reason Kathryn Bigelow is sure that torture and only torture works. Kinda makes me wonder if she's some kind of pervert.