Zero Dark Thirty - Rated R

 Most people celebrated Martin Luther King Day by watching President Obama’s second inauguration, but for me it was an opportunity to take in a movie.  There’s nothing better than escaping for a few hours, sinking into a dark theater and watching what will hopefully be great movie.  From the previews to the last credit, I’ve always felt that going to the movies was magical and that anything was possible once I entered those theater doors.  I still get that feeling.  There were so many movies I wanted to see on Monday, I probably could have stayed there all day and watched movie after movie, but I finally settled on seeing Zero Dark Thirty.  

For those of you who may not know, Zero Dark thirty is the re-telling of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May 2011.  At over 2 and half hours, it is a little too long, but the material is compelling enough to keep you interested.  I did feel a little restless half way through the movie, but I think it was due to the fact that I lived through these events.   I, like millions of others was glued to the news so some of the movie felt like filler. What I was really interested in was watching the actual operation go down and Kathryn Bigelow delivered.  I know some people had issues with the torture scenes and although it wasn’t easy to watch, I feel that we’ve seen worse in other movies, I think because the torture was based off actual events makes it a hard pill for some to swallow.  Overall if you’re at all interested in seeing this movie, you won’t be disappointed.   Since this is the only Oscar contender for best picture that I have seen so far, I’m not sure I would hand it the little golden statue, but it sure deserves the nomination.