Zero Dark Thirty

The Observer“It's fascinating to observe her at work in this alternative existence...” This is a fascinating film, and Chastain's wonderful performance has something in it of the tragic sense of life....

The Independent“Boldly, it has no action hero...” Bigelow invests her hard-hitting professional job with something else, a thoughtful ambiguity that just doesn't allow for simple responses...

Evening Standard“Well-written, excitingly filmed and edited...” The final half hour, showing the night-time attack on Bin Laden’s compound, is a masterclass in action film-making, using subjective viewpoints, low light and a naturalistic soundtrack to embed you right there in the confusion of what’s happening

The Arts Desk“Sleek and robustly compelling, it builds to a thrilling conclusion...” Zero Dark Thirty is a very modern, very grown-up thriller which makes even the wonderful Argo look like child’s play. Bigelow’s ninth film is painstakingly credible and literally explosive. It’s a story of obsession, of unsung heroism...

Scotsman“Chastain is astonishing in the role...” Zero Dark Thirty is a stunning achievement: a deftly made, intelligently handled and serious piece of film-making that stands alongside Paul Greengrass’s United 93 as the definitive cinematic responses to 9/11...

Total Film “Breathlessly tense, thrillingly orchestrated and intellectually complex...” A tour de force of editing, camerawork, production design and FX, this stand-out sequence has the urgency of real combat and the visceral immediacy of a first-person shooter...

Time Out film“An instant classic...” A gritty, unbelievably tense procedural about the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden. These are action films for people who think action movies are dumb: they put us thrillingly on the inside of history...

The Telegraph“It suggests a witching hour, a veil of deadly secrecy...” It might be the purest, darkest attempt to literalise the fog of war in the history of action cinema. For this astonishing payoff alone, you wouldn’t want to bet against Bigelow clearing that mantelpiece for a second Best Director Oscar trophy...

Guardian“A riveting account of the hunt for Bin Laden...” Telling a nearly three-hour story with an ending everyone knows, Bigelow and Boal have managed to craft one of the most intense and intellectually challenging films of the year...