Has anyone else gone and seen "Zero Dark Thirty" yet?

[bikejunkie]

So my wife and I went and saw Zero Dark Thirty today and I have some thoughts.
Let me start out by saying, damn- what a powerful, and well made movie! Like anything based in reality it's difficult to know where truth and fiction intersect. That being said this film left me asking myself a number of questions.

First- I have no sympathy for terrorists, however after watching the brutal treatment and torture of terrorists in the film- I couldn't help but feel bad for them a little, even though they were likely evil people bent on killing as many Americans as possible, and deserved to suffer for the Sept 11 attacks. I just mean for years the CIA used torture to try and find Bin Laden, and basically got nowhere. New president shuts down the torture program, they use police work instead, and then find and kill Bin Laden. Like I said earlier- it's hard to say how much is real and what is fiction but its begs the question does the end justify the means when it comes to something like torture? Don't we as Americans have to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the savages we ate fighting against?

Anyway I thought it was a great film- I don't remember the last time I saw a movie that made me really think about stuff afterwards and I know if anyone besides Katherine Bigelow had made it, it likely would have been so Hollywooded up as to miss the point of the film entirely and be sheer entertainment, and likely pretty awful. What did you guys think?

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[Caveman Jim]

First of all, I have not seen it (it's on my bucket list).
Secondly, I (we) cannot even fathom what happens under the guise of the secret government agencies inside our borders or abroad and you can bet that we will never know the real truth about any of it.
While Hollywood sensationalizes everything to keep the audience captured, do we really believe that the real world can have this going on right under our noses? Makes me think that all governments are hiding some things, such as vast as infiltrating other countries borders, kidnapping & torture without their knowledge or consent.

 

[civilian75]

I have not seen it. I am not going to the movie "turkey shoot" theaters anymore.

Yeap, IMO, assume it was loosely based on actual events, made with entertainment or propaganda for some agenda. Will wait until available on Netflix.

 

[Bucky Dubya]

Terrific film.

 

[Swedish K]

A friend works for the company that provided the weapons for the film... He indicated that the SF guys who consulted/acted in the film were interesting guys to work with. I have yet to see the movie but then again I haven't been lining up to sit in a helpless victim zone lately.

 

[tkdguy]

So my wife and I went and saw Zero Dark Thirty today and I have some thoughts.
Let me start out by saying, damn- what a powerful, and well made movie! Like anything based in reality it's difficult to know where truth and fiction intersect. That being said this film left me asking myself a number of questions.

First- I have no sympathy for terrorists, however after watching the brutal treatment and torture of terrorists in the film- I couldn't help but feel bad for them a little, even though they were likely evil people bent on killing as many Americans as possible, and deserved to suffer for the Sept 11 attacks. I just mean for years the CIA used torture to try and find Bin Laden, and basically got nowhere. New president shuts down the torture program, they use police work instead, and then find and kill Bin Laden. Like I said earlier- it's hard to say how much is real and what is fiction but its begs the question does the end justify the means when it comes to something like torture? Don't we as Americans have to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the savages we ate fighting against?

Anyway I thought it was a great film- I don't remember the last time I saw a movie that made me really think about stuff afterwards and I know if anyone besides Katherine Bigelow had made it, it likely would have been so Hollywooded up as to miss the point of the film entirely and be sheer entertainment, and likely pretty awful. What did you guys think?

I saw the film. My recall was that the torture in the film was nothing compared to what the Nazi Gestapo did in Europe and Hitler's SS during WWII. The Japanese had their way with some of our prisoners on occassion too. Do you remember the torture that was done to the Iraqi people by their own government or that of the insurgants during the Iraq war. What was done to their own people mades the torture in Zero Dark Thirty look like child's play. What do you think?

 

[nwo]

I'm looking forward to seeing "A Good Day to DIE Hard", on February 14th!

 

[TapRackNGo]

I thought the gear was pretty awesome. Have to have a heck of a counter weight for the NV tho, not sure if that technology is really used very much. I thought it was cool to see the IR lasers moving around while looking through NV, but the normal camera showed nothing but dark. Could have been shorter with more action, didn't really care for 3/4 of the movie.

 

[Bigfoot]

Tour de force. On a scale of 10 it's a 10. If you hate badly written Hollywood movies and generally never give em a dime of your money do it just this once. I'll see it again once or twice.

Outstanding writing, acting, production values, technically accurate (well mostly, the coup de gras weren't head shots, too gory apparently). I hear some Seal 6 members got in some big trouble for helping them out w details of the raid.

The first two hours were engrossing, never dull. Maya, the lead actor with the huge brass gonads should run away with those Hollyweird awards, but she probably won't cause it's Hollyweird. BTW it barely touched politics and was very even handed when it did, just wasn't politically correct enough for Hollywood.

It's a 2.5 hour movie and you don't see Seal 6 until the last half hour. Tears were rolling down my cheeks through much of that time. But I tend to get all misty when I see selflessness, bravery and evil getting it's just rewards.

OP, I wouldn't treat any animal the way they treated those prisoners, cause I have much more respect for animals.

"New president shuts down the torture program, they use police work instead, and then find and kill Bin Laden." Technically accurate, but it was the prior interrogation that led them to the courier, who led them directly to OBL. Without that courier lead, as the movie showed, they had nuthin. Disagree?

Google rendition. Holder admitted that we still send captives overseas for interrogating. Some of our prior interrogation outsourcers Syria and Libya might be out of business now but I'll bet Egypt and Israel still do the dirty work on our behalf. Welcome to the world. Think they get better treatment in those he11 holes than they got being interrogated at Gitmo while a doctor supervised? And those at GITMO are still alive, not blown up w whoever else was around them when the drone launched missile exploded. BTW I didn't like Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld but lets not pretend we live in a morally superior era. Rant off....

Go see the movie!!

 

[theflyguy]

Great movie...saw it last night.

Only mistake....we should have nuked the whole lot and started over

 

[BAMCIS]

I'm going to see the movie more sooner than later.

Before passing judgment regarding the tactics used by CIA or "enhanced interrogation" (as I can't call it torture), Jose Rodriguez explained things very well in his book, Hard Measures.

 

[Steve06]

Is the water board worse than decapitation?

 

[FortunateSon]

I just mean for years the CIA used torture to try and find Bin Laden, and basically got nowhere. New president shuts down the torture program, they use police work instead, and then find and kill Bin Laden.

My opinion, the new President just happened to be in the driver's seat at the time. The torture got the leads, police work followed up on the leads and located the target. And yes, in this instance the end justifies the means.


Looking forward to seeing the movie......

 

[bikejunkie]

I thought it was a truly excellent film. If someone wants to see an action film- this isn't that movie though the methodical movement of the Seal raid was incredibly well done and awesome. My comment about the police work is that they were dead in the water, until the interrogation program was shut down and THEN they find the file with the info they needed they'd had for years...I found it to be really even handed. Just a fantastic film. I can't remember the last time a movie made me think so much.

Also- I don't much care what Regal Cinemas says- I've taken my pistol to every movie I've seen since I got my permit and I don't plan on stopping. Concealed means concealer right?

 

[bikejunkie]

Also the movie did an excellent job of not giving either administration credit for finding and killing Bin Laden- the movie gave credit to a really dedicated CIA agent dedicated to finding and smoking him

 

[PaulZ]

Well my friend, you seem to think "we" are somehow different from "them". Every human is capable of the savagery that we all abhor. We are not God's favorite Nation. We have only had some luck; that being only one day of attacks on our homeland.

 

[WhyteCheddar]

Catching the rat was based on volumes of Intel, not a couple months worth I don't think. So Intel gained from waterboarding, informants, electronic surveillance etc.. all added up to the score IMHO

 

[bikejunkie]

I'm just happy that some people in liberal Hollywood had the balls to make a film like this and even ask the questions. And by balls I mean a woman named Kathryn Bigelow...

 

[bikejunkie]

She's a great director, I mean The Hurt Locker was excellent too

 

[Grunwald]

Is the water board worse than decapitation?

don't college students do the same thing but with beer and call it a party?