One of the Most Unflinching War Thrillers of the Century Just Found a New Streaming Home

Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, often seen as one of the greatest war thrillers ever made, is set to arrive on Netflix starting February 1. The timing feels almost ironic because the film was only removed from the platform very recently as part of the New Year’s Day purge. Now it is returning just a month later. The film traces the slow grind of intelligence work that went into the decade-long global manhunt for Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 terror attacks.

The film stars Jessica Chastain in the lead role of Maya, a character inspired by several real-life CIA operatives who played key roles in tracking Al Qaeda over the years. Alongside Chastain, the film also features a star-studded supporting cast including Kyle Chandler, James Gandolfini, Mark Strong, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, and Jennifer Ehle. Zero Dark Thirty follows the post 9/11 interrogations and slowly pulls back the curtain on the intelligence work behind real-world tragedies like the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing and the Camp Chapman attack. And it all builds toward a 40-minute, methodical nighttime raid that ends with the death of bin Laden. That final sequence is widely regarded as one of the greatest action scenes ever put on screen, and it has even been adapted into a playable Call of Duty mission.

When Zero Dark Thirty was released in 2012, it turned out to be a huge critical and commercial success and earned $132.8 million worldwide against a reported budget of roughly $40-$50 million. It was also nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Chastain. And today, it holds a 91% critics' score and an 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it one of the highest-rated war thrillers of all time.

Kathryn Bigelow’s Latest Political Thriller Prompted Reactions From the Pentagon

Bigelow’s most recent political thriller, A House of Dynamite, follows a missile launched from an unknown country that is heading toward the United States. It retells the same crisis from multiple perspectives as different factions attempt to stop the disaster. One major plot point involves the failure of America’s $50 billion missile defense system, which caused plenty of buzz online regarding the nation’s defense strategies. The conversation grew so loud that the Pentagon reportedly issued a memo to calm public concern. According to the memo obtained by Bloomberg, they stated that such a failure is extremely unlikely in reality. They further emphasized that the system malfunction was a fictional device meant to heighten drama for entertainment purposes, and that real-world testing suggests a very different outcome.

Zero Dark Thirty is currently available to stream on Paramount+. It will be available on Netflix starting February 1.

Release Date December 19, 2012

Runtime 157 Minutes

Writers Mark Boal