Grade: B+

Academy Award-winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) returns to the director’s chair for her latest feature, “Zero Dark Thirty”.

The film, starring Jessica Chastain, chronicles the true story of the Central Intelligence Agency’s long and tedious manhunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Beginning in 2003, a rookie CIA operator named Maya (Chastain) sets out on an intense (often unfruitful) eight-year search for the terrorist.

Over these eight years, her colleagues, as well as the CIA’s goals come and go, but Maya remains fixated on finding and apprehending bin Laden.

This experience transforms Maya from a timid and weak-stomached rookie into a bold and hard-nosed veteran.

“Zero Dark Thirty” is a well planned fusion of stark realism and an entertaining war drama.

It stands apart from many “Hollywood-ized” war dramas by showing audiences more of the white-collar, paperwork side of the CIA rather than all military action.

This is not to say, however, that the viewer won’t see any action; “Zero Dark Thirty” is spotted with several scenes of gunfire and explosions. It, too, is worth noting that the film contains a number of vivid scenes of torturous interrogation tactics, which feels very uncomfortable to watch.

So, if you have a weak stomach, you may either want to close your eyes or skip this one.

Overall, “Zero Dark Thirty” was a pretty enjoyable and well-made film. It was, for the most part, very gripping and intense and I found myself embarking on the “greatest manhunt in history” along with the cast.

Near the second act, the film seemed somewhat slow and monotonous, but seeing as how the hunt for Osama bin Laden spanned nearly a decade, I found this understandable.

Finally, while the film develops Maya’s character very well and explores her relationships with other characters, she is really the only example of proper character development within “Zero Dark Thirty” and thus we don’t really know or particularly care about the rest of the cast.

The film has received multiple Academy and Golden Globe Award nominations and rightly so.