Zero Dark Thirty 2012

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: This is movie journalism that snaps and stings, that purifies a decade's clamor and clutter into narrative clarity, with a salutary kick. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's a movie made with the same coolly fanatical attention to craft the lead character displays in her work. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: One of the most innovative and best made films of the past year. Every now and then, even Dick Cheney gets to like a great movie. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: A vital, disturbing, and necessary film ... Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Bigelow's extensive staging of the May 1, 2011, raid is a prime example of virtuoso action filmmaking. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: As disturbing as it often is to watch, it's so rife with sheer cinematic material that it's likely to reward multiple viewings. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The most important American fiction movie about Sept. 11, a landmark that would be more impressive if there were more such films to choose from. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: In its narrative arc, it is barely distinct from a boneheaded right-wing revenge picture, but the vibe is cool, brisk, grown-up, packed with impressively real-sounding intel jargon. And the hero is no gun-toting macho man. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Movies must move, and this one just lies there like a stack of paper from a classified government filing cabinet. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: What it does in the course of telling a seminal story of our time is what contemporary films so rarely do, serve as brilliant provocation. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There's an emotional detachment to the film that undercuts its potency. Zero Dark Thirty is more technically proficient than emotionally involving. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [It] isn't easy viewing - but just try to look away. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: It's a film about revenge and its immense costs, different from a common vigilante story because of the target, not the arc. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "Zero Dark Thirty" is a great movie, an astonishing achievement on nearly every level. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: At the very least Bigelow has widened her reach past the white-knuckle thrills of The Hurt Locker and into the darkest currents of American military might -- at the risk of being swept away. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Its stance is extremely tricky. It's not a documentary. It's not a load of revenge nonsense. It's not "24." I'm still arguing with myself over parts of it. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: What's striking is the absence of triumphalism -- Bigelow doesn't shy away from showing the victims shot down in cold blood in the compound -- and we come away with the overwhelming sense that this has been a grim, dark episode in our history. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: By showing scenes of torture without taking any kind of moral (as opposed to tactical) stand on what we are seeing, Bigelow has made an amoral movie -- which is, I would argue, an unconscionable approach to this material. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Swift, smart, relentless, Zero Dark Thirty compresses a decade of high-stakes procedural into 157 minutes of pure momentum. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: While "Zero Dark Thirty" may offer political and moral arguing points aplenty, as well as vicarious thrills,as a film it's simply too much of a passable thing. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: [It's]a harrowing adventure behind the headlines that is at once a riveting procedural and, at the same time, a bracing political statement on the moral ambiguities of our war on terror. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Once in a long while, a fresh-from-the-headlines movie fuses journalism, procedural high drama, and the oxygenated atmosphere of a thriller into a new version of history written with lightning... [Zero Dark Thirty] is that kind of movie. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Film.com: Bigelow and her screenwriter Mark Boal [operate] from the idea that doubt is dynamic, while moral certainty is just another kind of stasis. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: The story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden builds relentlessly to a powerful end result. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Kathryn Bigelow proves herself once again to be a master of heightened realism and narrative drive in this retelling of the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Even more than The Hurt Locker, which sometimes relied on traditional film techniques to build suspense, Zero Dark Thirty resists manipulating the viewer or building movie-movie excitement. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: If you like World War II films, you'll enjoy this. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It mixes checkable facts with dramatic license, but "Zero Dark Thirty" has no overweening political agenda. Instead, it unfolds with the cool detachment of a documentary even in its most tense and gripping scenes. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: It combines ruthlessness and humanity in a manner that is paradoxical and disconcerting yet satisfying as art. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [Chastain's performance has] a lot of colors, and angles, and is guaranteed to be remembered come awards time. Maya's a real character, all right. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: This is not a triumphant story in [the] telling, but it is one uncommonly freighted with the weight of history. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: What the film says about getting information from terrorism suspects in an era of high-tech surveillance depends on your point of view. What is unquestionable is how powerful its full scope is. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Not only is Zero Dark Thirty one of the year's best movies, it's an inspiring one to share with your daughters. That is, if they're old enough to deal with explicit torture scenes. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: As a hugely compressed account of the Osama bin Laden manhunt, as a compelling but troubling look at "black ops" tradecraft, and as a riveting portrait of a fiercely determined woman working in a male-dominated sphere, the film is a resounding success. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A compelling contemporary thriller with the added benefit of also being an engrossing character study. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: 'Zero Dark Thirty' is the best movie of 2012. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A slam-bang action picture. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The knockout punch of the movie season is being delivered by Zero Dark Thirty. Chastain is a marvel, and Bigelow and Boal top their Oscar-winning work in The Hurt Locker. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: [Its] moral ambiguity will drive some viewers nuts, but in my view it is also the quality that makes "Zero Dark Thirty" something close to a masterpiece. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A timely and important reminder of the agonizing human price of zealotry. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Unlike too many films these days, "Zero Dark Thirty" dares to embrace complexity. And that makes it not just state-of-the-art entertainment, but a great film. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: A powerful, morally complicated work on an urgent subject. It is a film that deserves-that almost demands-to be seen and argued over. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: No doubt Zero Dark Thirty serves a function by airing America's dirty laundry about detainee and torture programs, but in its wake, there's a crying need for a compassionate Coming Home to counter its brutal Deer Hunter. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Chastain makes Maya as vivid as a bloodshot eye. Her porcelain skin, delicate features and feminine attire belie the steel within. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: A movie that's going to part of the national discussion, both politically and artistically, and deservedly so. Whether you love it, hate it, or have mixed feelings, it's not to be ignored. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: This is an instant classic. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The details are gripping, presented with respect for an audience's intelligence. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: The ultra-professional result may be easier to respect than enjoy, but there's no denying its power. Read more

Scott Foundas, Village Voice: Even the smallest touches in Zero Dark Thirty feel authentic enough that we scarcely question them ... Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: From the very first scenes of Zero Dark Thirty, director Kathryn Bigelow demonstrates why she is such a formidable filmmaker, as adept with human emotion as with visceral, pulse-quickening action. Read more