Zero Dark Thirty

[redfirebird2008]

Just got around to seeing this last night. Pretty good. I wonder how accurate the portrayal of the mission was? If it was very accurate, is the military mad at them for giving out details on how they engage in special operations?

[baumer]

The operation is all Hollywood as Osamas been dead for about 3-5 yrs now.

[Jessie]

Just because torture could help, doesn't mean it's good or that it should be used. It's not black and white. And if you think ZDT portrays torture in a positive light, we watched different movies. And no, the tear in the end is not all the character development there was.

See in my opinion, if torturing one criminal can save hundreds of lives then I think it should be done. What you've got to tell yourself is the guy getting tortured can stop his suffering at any time just by doing the right thing. This is the real world and as ugly as it is, things like this need to be done. Besides It's not like the torture was very extreme.

[Jake Gittes]

I think such a clear ticking bomb scenario, where you've got hundreds of lives directly dependent on some piece of information that is possessed by a guy you just so happen to have in custody or something, very rarely occurs in real life. And even if (when) it does, there's no guarantee that the guy won't lie to you, or that you're going to believe the guy even when he does tell you the truth, or that the lives are going to be saved in either case; basically, once you start, anything goes. You can never know how far you're gonna go, no matter what you tell yourself, and ultimately there's a very real chance that you simply end up committing all kinds of moral atrocities without truly accomplishing anything. That scenario is a lot more plausible in my eyes.

Edited November 12, 2013 by Jake Gittes

[redfirebird2008]

The operation is all Hollywood as Osamas been dead for about 3-5 yrs now.

 

 

haha, probably true. I'm definitely with you on the 9/11 official story being questionable. At a minimum I believe the CIA knew exactly what Osama was up to. They created the bastard after all.

[dashrendar44]

haha, probably true. I'm definitely with you on the 9/11 official story being questionable. At a minimum I believe the CIA knew exactly what Osama was up to. They created the bastard after all.

 

 

Do people really think this piece of fiction is accountable for the truth of what has really happened during the last decade and how Bin Laden was killed? Do you really think such classified recent events draped in secrecy could be disclosed for an Hollywood movie unless it presented some romanced fiction of the actual truth fully endorsed by the running administration?

 

At least, Oliver's Stone's JFK presented itself as a Jim Garrison's biopic reflecting his thesis about JFK's assassination. The key word is "thesis", not "composite facts akin for Truth made of selected biased sources".

Edited November 12, 2013 by dashrendar44

[baumer]

Of course they believe it, Dash.  You know just as well as I do that things like that are believed by about 80% of the population.

[dashrendar44]

Of course they believe it, Dash.  You know just as well as I do that things like that are believed by about 80% of the population.

 

I'm flabbergasted.

[The Stingray]

People believe what you tell them. Easy. Human beings are gullible sheep.

[75Live]

People believe what you tell them. Easy. Human beings are gullible sheep.

Exactly. There are people that think JFK is all factual and I had to tell people that Jack and Rose from Titanic were made up. So nothing really surprises me when it comes to people thinking movies are real

[baumer]

Paranormal Activity is based on a true story.

[Ezen Baklattan]

I especially love it when people actually take 'based on a true story' in horror seriously.

[The Stingray]

I especially love it when people actually take 'based on a true story' in horror seriously.

I don't think people do that anymore. Even though this contradicts what I previously said.

[Jessie]

I especially love it when people actually take 'based on a true story' in horror seriously.

 

I know what you mean. The amount of people I know who think Paranormal Activity was true actually frightens me more than the movie itself.

[Dark Jedi Master 007]

I rarely like characters like Maya, whose entire existence is tied to their job. That type of writing is boring to me. But she was written well. Seeing her passion for the work grow was great. The scenes of torture and violence are brutal here. I personally don't think the movie picks sides in these moments, as much as it just shows you the truth. This is how torture looks. This is how murder looks. You decide your own stance on it.I took issue with how the film sometimes felt like it was too focused on the details of the investigation, as opposed to our characters. I also took huge issue with the way Maya's friend was killed off. Obviously, it was a real event, so I'm not saying that they should have kept the character. But so many of the bombing scenes in the film were handled with such care and subtlety that even though you knew they were coming, they still shocked you. That was because of the calm that Bigelow established through her direction (the silence on the bus in London or the simple "normal" convo in the Hilton Hotel). But in the death scene of this character, I felt like the direction and script were far more heavy handed than simply relying on simple things, such as a convo. Instead, we have this character being insanely giddy, even flashing a huge smile when the actual car finally arrives. Meanwhile, Chastain keeps messaging her to know what's going on with the interrogations. It all went against how Bigelow had handled earlier scenes, where she wasn't really trying to build you up to the moment. She just let it happen. Ironically, the buildup in this scene actually took me out of it. And worse, what followed after the scene was really annoying too. Suddenly, for like 30 minutes, the film became Maya sobbing at this character's death and putting out stupid phrases like "my friends died trying to catch Bin Laden, but I believe I survived to finish the job." WTF? That dialogue is awful, imo, for a film of such intelligence. Again, it might be realistic, but sometimes reality doesn't necessarily make for the best film, they should have certainly changed a few things around.But whatever, I'm bi*ching too much, and I realize that. I still liked the movie. It's worth seeing.3/4 

Edited March 8, 2014 by Dark Jedi Master 007

[GiantCALBears]

Without a doubt one of my favorite films of the decade & I am against the War on Terror in general. The performances are all so good it's almost a relief they didn't mess up such an important topic/moment in our country's history. The final scene of her sitting in the plane weeping is so powerful it gave me chills.