Film

Modern manhunt

Zero Dark Thirty

The controversial Zero Dark Thirty, director Kathryn Bigelow’s excellently crafted version of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, has a bunch of politicians and CIAofficials crying foul. This makes me think the movie must contain some harsh truths and grim realities about the war on terror. It’s virtually absent of politics, or any of that “America, fuck yeah!” nonsense. It gives a filmmaker’s interpretation of the steps that were taken, and the deeds that were done, to rid the world of a true menace. Many of those deeds are presented in a calm, calculated and perhaps even cold manner that is, at times, spooky to watch. The people depicted in this movie mean business, and will do whatever it takes to get a job done. That includes waterboarding and literally scaring the shit out of detainees. The film starts with a black screen, and some terrifying messages left by 9/11 victims as they were close to death in the Twin Towers. The sequence definitely put me in that “OK, something needs to be done about this” mode that I, and many world residents, felt that day. It definitely sets the tone for the unsettling film. We see Maya (Jessica Chastain) a new, determined CIA officer—apparently a composite character of actual people—on the Bin Laden case, about to witness a torture chamber. Dan (Jason Clarke), another CIA agent, will use waterboarding, isolation boxes, dog collars and psychological mind games to try and draw some names out of a strong-willed detainee (a powerful Reda Kateb). He eventually gets a big one, and a long hunt that will see many casualties, including CIA agents, begins in earnest.

Is the movie “pro torture”? I would say most definitely not. Is it “anti-torture”? It isn’t that either. The film is supposedly being investigated for using classified information when it comes to American interrogation tactics. What the film depicts seems like it could be pretty authentic. Thankfully, I am no expert on the matter. This is a movie that leaves it up to the viewer to decide whether these types of interro-by Bob Grimm gation methods were necessary in the pursuit of Bin Laden. But, and I want to make this perbgrimm@ fectly clear, it’s a brutal exercise that Bigelownewsreview.com shows here—unsettling in many ways. Zero Dark Thirty clocks in at 157 minutes, with all but 40 of those devoted to5 Maya’s behind-the-scenes, dogged pursuit of Public Enemy No. 1. The last 40 minutes completely switches gears, becoming an intense depiction of the Team Six mission that ended with “Geronimo.” All 157 minutes are top notch, provocative, incendiary filmmaking. Bigelow has most certainly topped herself, including her Oscar-winning effort The Hurt Locker. As for the raid itself, it’s very dark and quiet. From the muffled “fwup, fwup, fwup” of the experimental helicopters—one of which crashed—as they swerve through mountain ranges, to the quick and decisive shots ending lives in that now very familiar white structure in Pakistan, it’s all very precise and stealthy. The aspect of the raid that unsettled me the most was the way Navy SEALS are depicted quietly and invitingly calling out the name “Osama?” before they shoot him. Chastain, in just a couple of years, has become one of the world’s more dynamic, downright reliable actresses. From her Oscar nominated turn in The Help, to her beautiful supporting work in The Tree of Life and Take Shelter, she creates one memorable character after another. Maya is her crowning achievement, and should get her another Oscar nomination. Ultimately, Zero Dark Thirty is a film epic and efficient enough to be compared to the great films of Coppola, Scorsese and Kubrick. It’s an important and engaging piece of work from a director who looks like she’s just starting to hit her stride. Ω

After killing that dude, her future’s so bright, she’s got to wear shades.

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3Django Unchained Man, it bugs me that Quentin Tarantino’s latest is only passably entertaining. I have loved his past films. This is the first one I’m not in love with. Jamie Foxx plays Django, a slave purchased by a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) two years before the Civil War. Django is purchased because he has seen some targets the bounty hunter is pursuing. Django is promised his freedom after they find those targets. When those targets are gotten, they pursue Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) on a plantation owned by the repellent Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). This one follows some of the same blueprints as Tarantino’s own Inglourious Basterds. It feels as if he is repeating himself a bit. There are some great performances, especially from Waltz and DiCaprio. It just doesn’t have the heft of past Tarantino efforts. Perhaps this has something to do with this being the first Tarantino movie edited by someone other than the late Sally Menke.

2The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Oh damn, this one hurts to write. Damn! I waited and waited for Peter Jackson to return to Middle-earth. I so wanted to see this film that its previous lack of existence in my life has probably contributed to a myriad of social problems I just can’t explain right now. And after all that waiting, we get this, a nearly three-hour mess that lacks focus and anything resembling pizzazz. Jackson, as we all know by now, has stretched a relatively small book into what will be somewhere in the neighborhood of nine hours after three films and, so far, it’s a big mistake. Martin Freeman is fine as Bilbo Baggins, the little hobbit who decides to go on an adventure. In the book, that adventure is a quick, crisp, wonderful thing. In this movie, it’s a bunch of indistinguishable dwarves acting all goofy and stuffing their faces for half the running time, and then a bunch of battles that have no sense of meaning. Smaug the dragon doesn’t really factor yet—Jackson is leaving that for Part Two—and Bilbo gets lost in the shuffle. The movie achieves its only true great heights when Gollum (Andy Serkis) finally shows up for a game of riddles. Until then, the movie doesn’t catch fire, it meanders. And, brother, I’m heartbroken over it. I watched this in standard 3-D. I’ll try to see it in the much debated 48fps— twice the normal film speed and definition—and give an update on how this looks at a later date.

5The Impossible A family struggles to survive in Thailand after the massive 2004 tsunami that claimed over 230,000 lives. Naomi Watts is Oscar-worthy as Maria Belon and Ewan McGregor is equally good as her husband Henry. The two are on Christmas vacation with their children when the tsunami hits, and become separated. Tom Holland gives one of the great breakthrough performances of 2012 as their oldest son. Amazingly, the film is based on real people and their actual experiences. Director Juan Antonio Bayona has made a respectful film about one of the worst recorded disasters in human history. It’s a testament to the people who lost their lives, and those who survived. Watts will tear your heart out, especially when she lets out her first, terrifying scream. Of all the images that stuck in my head from 2012 films, that one might be the one I’ll remember the most.

3Jack Reacher Tom Cruise brings the popular action novel title character to the big screen, and while he isn’t as physically big and imposing as the Reacher portrayed in the novels, boy howdy, is he ever mean. When civilians are disturbingly shot by a sniper, it seems to be an open-and-shut case. That is, until the suspect summons investigator Jack Reacher, who has an unorthodox approach to homicide investigation that occasionally involves the snapping of somebody’s leg. This is Cruise in nasty mode, but he mixes in some good humor that makes Reacher a well rounded character for him. Rosamund Pike delivers a memorable performance as the attorney representing the accused sniper, as does Richard Jenkins as her father. On top of the good performances, this is a decent mystery that will keep you guessing. This is a violent one, so know what you are getting into when you go to see it.

5Les Misérables This is a grand, beautifully shot adaptation of the legendary musical, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Hugh Jackman in the heavy-lifting role of persecuted bread thief Jean Valjean. Set in 19th century France, the musical calls for nearly every word to be sung, and it’s a major undertaking. Hooper had his cast sing live on the set rather than prerecording in a sound booth, and this results in a moving musical experience. Jackman has a spectacular voice, and you get at true sense that he and his costars are acting these songs, rather than lip-synching. Anne Hathaway will probably win an Oscar for her work as Fantine, singing her big number in one take and summoning honest, heart-wrenching tears. Russell Crowe, as Valjean’s lawman nemesis Javert, doesn’t have half of Jackman’s voice, but there’s something about his interpretation that’s appropriate and amplifies the character’s loneliness. Every number is treated with a majestic grace that makes this one of the greatest movie musicals I’ve ever seen.

2Promised Land Just what the hell is this film trying to say? Matt Damon plays a corporate man who goes to a small farming town to buy up their land for natural gas mining. His corporation intends to use fracking, a drilling method that cracks stone far beneath the Earth’s surface and releases natural gas. It’s a method with some known environmental side effects, and I think this movie is preaching against it. Or is it? In the end, the film seems more concerned with salvaging the Damon character as virtuous rather than tackling the bigger questions it seems to be asking. John Krasinski, who cowrote the screenplay with Damon, also plays a strange, strange character in the movie who serves to do nothing but puzzle the viewer. Damon was supposed to direct, but had to call upon friend Gus Van Sant to take over. The result is the second bad film in a row, after Restless, from Van Sant, normally a very reliable director.

4Silver Linings Playbook Bradley Cooper is on fire as Pat, a troubled man recently out of a mental institution and obsessed with his ex-wife. He’s so obsessed hat he can’t see the value in Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a recently widowed neighbor trying to befriend him. Directed by David O. Russell, the movie is a funny, slick treatment of people with real problems that works because Russell and his performers find the right balance. Robert De Niro does his best work in years as Pat’s obsessive father, and Chris Tucker gets big laughs as Pat’s former mental institution buddy. Cooper and Lawrence make for one of the year’s most interesting screen couples. They are certainly unique. Russell is establishing himself as one of the industry’s most reliable and innovative directors.

1Texas Chainsaw 3D This movie starts directly after the events of the 1974 original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where we see some murderous townspeople burn down the Sawyer house, home of Leatherface, and steal a baby. Cut to years later, when a woman (Alexandra Daddario) finds out she has inherited a house, and that she’s the baby stolen in 1974. Wait a minute? That’s 38 years ago, Daddario is 26— and looks 23—and this movie is most definitely set in 2012 (it says so on a gravestone and there are smart phones). Oh, never mind. It has bigger problems than that. There are a couple of good scares after Leatherface is unleashed but, oh lordy, do things get mega-stupid in the end. I liked Daddario, and I think director John Luessenhop has put together one of the better-looking Chainsaw films. Unfortunately, he’s also made one of the dumbest.

Reno

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