Zero Dark Thirty

'Zero Dark Thirty' begins with the sounds, but no vision, of events in the USA on 11 September 2001. The story that ensues relates to the work of the CIA to track down senior figures who might be plotting further attacks and eventually to tracking down the number one enemy, Osama Bin Laden.

The opening scenes of interrogation of prisoners are unsettling to say the least but the film becomes riveting when it eventually focusses on one agent's investigation and search efforts.

Employing a quasi documentary style, 'Zero Dark Thirty' is not the most accessible of films with occasionally unclear dialogue and references to names that mean little to those of us not expert in the events. Nonetheless these possibly deliberate deficiencies don't detract from what is overall an above average film.

★★★★