‘Riveting' new Netflix documentary debuts with perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score as fans rave ‘it's a must-watch!'
American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden, released on the streamer on May 14, follows the pursuit and capture of the terrorist leader who planned the 9/11 attacks.
A follow-up to 2023's American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing, the three-part series goes behind the scenes of the US government's counter-terrorism efforts at the time.
Directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy use footage from the time and talking head interviews to let viewers in to the perspectives of decision makers - and show the tough calls they had to make.
They told Netflix news site Tudum it is not about the war on terror but instead 'tells the story of the people tasked to find the world's most wanted terrorist and bring him to justice'.
Some fans have already taken to X, Metro reports, to praise the portrayal of their manhunt that 'changed their lives, America and the world as we know it', as the directors said.
From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.
One user said: 'American Manhunt Osama Bin Laden was a riveting documentary series.
'Just three episodes, most of which I've seen bits and pieces [of] over several documentaries/movies, but it was put together so well.
'Especially the third episode was nail-biting cinema. Hard-hitting, must-watch.'
Another added: 'That Osama Bin Laden American Manhunt instalment is so good. Tens to whoever produced and directed it.'
Someone else said: 'Intense, gripping and outstanding. American Manhunt Osama Bin Laden is superbly narrated and executed. I was hooked from beginning to end.'
Meanwhile, though, other viewers found it one-sided, weighted too in favour of government efforts.
One person said: 'It feels like the main point of the show is to make people sympathise with the CIA and the intelligence officers for their years-long intelligence failure. It's overkill at this point.'
Similarly, someone else weighed in: 'Netflix has released American Manhunt Osama Bin Laden which seems to feature the "heroic" CIA officers who worked in Alec Station?
They said the film is not about the war on terror but instead 'tells the story of the people tasked to find the world's most wanted terrorist and bring him to justice'
The first episode follows CIA analysts as they trace the 9/11 attacks back to terrorist group Al-Qaeda and its leader bin Laden, before trying to apprehend him
Some fans have already taken to X to praise the portrayal of their manhunt that 'changed their lives, America and the world as we know it', as the directors said
Meanwhile, though, other viewers found it one-sided, weighted too in favour of government efforts
'FBI and Congress blamed those clowns for actively concealing the presence of known Al-Qaeda terrorists in [the] USA before the 9/11 attacks. Not heroes. Idiots.'
The directors explained their approach: 'For us, the best way to understand history is to truly experience it.
'Being thrown into the driver's seat after the worst attack in American history would rattle anyone, even these brave men and women who had devoted their lives to protecting Americans by assessing geopolitical threats and sounding alarms that were often ignored.
'But the intelligence analysts didn't have time to grieve or reflect. They had a mission at hand: to figure out who did this and stop them before the next attack.'
The first episode follows CIA analysts as they trace the 9/11 attacks back to terrorist group Al-Qaeda and its leader bin Laden, before trying to apprehend him.
The second instalment depicts government frustration when the trail goes cold after the failed Battle of Tora Bora, the December 2001 American military engagement in Afghanistan aiming to capture or kill bin Laden.
Finally, the last episode sees then-President Barack Obama order the highly risky special forces raid in Pakistan in 2011 which saw bin Laden killed at last.
It comes after another film that recently dropped on the streamer was similarly hailed by fans on Rotten Tomatoes as 'the most intense movie I've ever seen'.
James Cameron is known for his involvement with movie classics like Titanic, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Directing as well as Avatar, which earned him a Global Globe Award.
Another film directed by Cameron, which is not as well known, is 1989 sci-fi thriller The Abyss - which hit Netflix earlier this month.
The adventure movie follows a diving team, made of civilians, who are roped into helping with a search for a lost submarine.
Ed Harris, Mary Mastrantonia, Micahel Biehn and Dick Warlock are amongst some of the talented cast members.
The Abyss received an Academy Award for the Best Visual Effects and James was presented with a Saturn Award for Best Director.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
New lawsuit challenges Trump's federal takeover of DC police department as crackdown intensifies
The nation's capital challenged President Donald Trump 's takeover of its police department in court on Friday, hours after his administration stepped up its crackdown on policing by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department, with all the powers of a police chief. District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a new lawsuit that Trump is going far beyond his power under the law. Schwalb asked a judge to find that control of the department remains in district hands. 'The administration's unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home. This is the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it," Schwalb said. The lawsuit comes after Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday night that Drug Enforcement Administration boss Terry Cole will assume 'powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.' The Metropolitan Police Department 'must receive approval from Commissioner Cole' before issuing any orders, Bondi said. It was unclear where the move left the city's current police chief, Pamela Smith, who works for the mayor. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back, writing on social media that 'there is no statute that conveys the District's personnel authority to a federal official.' Chief had agreed to share immigration information Schwalb had said late Thursday that Bondi's directive was 'unlawful,' arguing it could not be followed by the city's police force. He wrote in a memo to Smith that 'members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,' setting up the legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration. Bondi's directive came even after Smith had told MPD officers hours earlier to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody, such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. The Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief's directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of 'sanctuary policies,' which generally limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers. Bondi said she was rescinding that order as well as other MPD policies limiting inquires into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. All new directives must now receive approval from Cole, the attorney general said. The police takeover is the latest move by Trump to test the limits of his legal authorities to carry out his agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to bolster his tough-on-crime message and his plans to speed up the mass deportation of people in the U.S. illegally. It also marks one of the most sweeping assertions of federal authority over a local government in modern times. While Washington has grappled with spikes in violence and visible homelessness, the city's homicide rate ranks below those of several other major U.S. cities and the capital is not in the throes of the public safety collapse the administration has portrayed. Residents are seeing a significant show of force A population already tense from days of ramp-up has begun seeing more significant shows of force across the city. National Guard troops watched over some of the world's most renowned landmarks and Humvees took position in front of the busy main train station. Volunteers helped homeless people leave long-standing encampments — to where was often unclear. Department of Homeland Security police stood outside Nationals Park during a game Thursday between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies. DEA agents patrolled The Wharf, a popular nightlife area, while Secret Service officers were seen in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Bowser, walking a tightrope between the Republican White House and the constituency of her largely Democratic city, was out of town Thursday for a family commitment in Martha's Vineyard but would be back Friday, her office said. The uptick in visibility of federal forces around the city, including in many high-traffic areas, has been striking to residents going about their lives. Trump has the power to take over federal law enforcement for 30 days before his actions must be reviewed by Congress, though he has said he'll re-evaluate as that deadline approaches. Officers set up a checkpoint in one of D.C.'s popular nightlife areas, drawing protests. Troops were stationed outside the Union Station transportation hub as the 800 Guard members who have been activated by Trump started in on missions that include monument security, community safety patrols and beautification efforts, the Pentagon said. Troops will assist law enforcement in a variety of roles, including traffic control posts and crowd control, National Guard Major Micah Maxwell said. The Guard members have been trained in de-escalation tactics and crowd control equipment, Maxwell said. National Guard troops are a semi-regular presence in D.C., typically being used during mass public events like the annual July 4 celebration. They have regularly been used in the past for crowd control in and around Metro stations.
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The egg flight trend: Tim Dowling ranks 10 boiled egg appetisers - from perfect to never again
Generally speaking, the more TikTok trends you allow to pass you by in a year, the better. But some trends refuse to cease, and the egg flight is turning out to be one of them. The egg flight, in all its many forms, persists. Simply put, an egg flight is to hard-boiled eggs what a wine flight is to wine – a varietal sampling, presented in one sitting. Unlike devilled eggs, where the yolk is scooped out, mashed with mayonnaise and spices and piped back into its former cavity, the egg flight is just some eggs – most commonly three, in six upturned halves – with different stuff piled on top. The result is meant to be a quick but still fancy appetiser range, destined to impress your guests, your family, or at least the rest of TikTok. The originator and chief populariser of the egg flight (or #eggflight) is an American cookery blogger and TikToker called Alice Choi (AKA @hipfoodiemom1). She has been doing them for years, but her egg demonstrations first went viral this time last year, and egg-flight TikTok posts now number in the thousands. All over the world, people are still getting excited about their egg flights. Would-be egg-flight makers are encouraged to get creative and try new things, but in practice the discipline seems to involve a lot of imitation, in keeping with the average TikToker's overarching definition of originality: the exact same thing, but with me doing it. In that same spirit, here are 10 popular variations, dutifully copied and ranked. A quick note: my eggs were boiled for just under 11 minutes, plunged into ice water, then carefully peeled and halved. Before you begin, I recommend putting a small blob of mayonnaise on the plate beneath each egg half to stop it rocking back and forth while you dress it. 1. The Classic. In one of her viral tutorials, @hipfoodiemom1 offers the closest thing we may ever have to an Egg Flight Theory: the ideal egg requires something creamy, topped by something tangy, topped by something sour and/or crunchy. The Classic is the most basic combo to follow that formula and it's easily the best: mayo, dijon mustard and a slice of dill pickle. That's it – stop there. It's essentially a lazy person's devilled egg, and, honestly, it cannot be improved upon. 2. Kimchi. Another of Choi's creamy/tangy/sour stacks, with a mayo-mustard base and fermented cabbage at its apex. Overall this may be your best bet, since it's easier to buy good kimchi in the UK than it is to find a decent dill pickle. 3. Smoked salmon. A popular school of thought in egg-flight circles involves treating the egg as if it were some other foodstuff – in this case, a bagel layered with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, dill and possibly some poppy or sesame seeds. This sort of variation often flounders on its implicit unfulfilled promise – a hard-boiled egg is not a bagel, after all – but it works here because all the ingredients share a general breakfast vibe. 4. Caprese. Mozzarella, tomato, a single, appropriately sized basil leaf and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. By now you will have noticed a key drawback to the egg flight: you need a huge variety of ingredients – in very small amounts – to produce six completely different eggs. There is ultimately more shopping than cooking involved. The caprese salad egg is a nice idea, but at this point the notion of not bothering is also beginning to take hold. 5. Mexican. Across TikTok, you will find egg halves piled with a selection of some, if not all, of the following: guacamole, taco meat, tortilla slivers or crumbs, onion, tomato, sour cream, hot sauce, coriander, jalapeño. Of course that's way too many things – I strongly advise you to stick with a maximum of four. Anyway, these ingredients are not the problem. The problem is the hard-boiled egg at the bottom: it doesn't belong. 6. Pickled onion. Again, the rule of smooth-tangy-sour applies here – you need all three to offset the rubbery blandness of the egg. Choi pickles her own onions with rosemary and cinnamon and always has a jar on hand, but you can easily manage a quick pickle – thinly sliced onion steeped in salt and rice vinegar for half an hour. Or, in an emergency, you can just use mayo, mustard and raw onion, although I can't really imagine the set of circumstances that would lead to an egg-flight emergency. 7. Tzatziki. My only original contribution to the egg-flight canon, because I found that I had some tzatziki on hand – Greek yoghurt mixed with grated cucumber, minced garlic and chopped mint, with a sprinkling of paprika on top. I don't mean to blow my own horn, but this works better than perhaps it should. I have since seen other people on TikTok spooning tzatziki on eggs, and then pushing chickpeas into it. I cannot condone this. 8. BLT. You get the idea: bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo. An enduring combination let down by the fact that the whole mouthful is still going to be 80% egg by weight – a flavour imbalance that simply cannot be corrected. It is possibly a little late in the game for me to confess that I don't really care for hard-boiled eggs, and I've already consumed more of them in an afternoon than I normally would in a year. 9. Caesar salad. Even if you love hard-boiled eggs – and I've made my position clear – you must eventually accept that the egg flight is a steeply descending staircase: the law of diminishing returns comes into effect once you've passed half a dozen variations. When you start making a caesar salad on top of an egg – lettuce, miniature croutons, dressing, parmesan shavings – you've taken things too far. It looks better in a photograph than it's ever going to taste. 10. Burger egg. Given my ambivalence toward the hard-boiled egg – which has long since curdled into full-blown hostility – the last variation I tried to make was always going to rank the lowest. This really was a disappointment, however: idiotically sized mini-burger, cheese square, tomato, ketchup. It's not a burger and it is not a fitting topping for an egg. Null points, and never again.
The Sun
28 minutes ago
- The Sun
Legendary band announces next album and tour will be their last as they retire after 42 years
THRASH metal giants Megadeth have revealed the band's next tour and album will be their last. Founded by Dave Mustaine in 1983 after the singer's acrimonious departure from Metallica, the San Francisco band have consistently pumped out memorable riffs ever since. 2 But the band will call it a day after the completion of their tour next year. Mustaine said: 'There's so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional. 'Most of them don't get to go out on their own terms on top, and that's where I'm at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them." He continued: 'We can't wait for you to hear this album and see us on tour. If there was ever a perfect time for us to put out a new album, it's now. 'If there was ever a perfect time to tour the world, it's now. This is also a perfect time for us to tell you that it's our last studio album. We've made a lot of friends over the years and I hope to see all of you on our global farewell tour. Don't be mad, don't be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years. 'We have done something together that's truly wonderful and will probably never happen again,' he concludes. 'We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it's played, and we changed the world. The bands I played in have influenced the world. I love you all for it. Thank you for everything.' Devastated fans can't believe it. Another wrote: "This made me feel so sad." A third said: "Farewell, kings. It's been a great run!" Music video for Dave Mustaine's Megadeth hit Holy Wars... The Punishment Due The band are best known for albums such as Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!, Peace Sells… but Who's Buying?, and Rust in Peace. There has been a revolving door of members over the years with only Mustaine being ever-present. The current line up consists of Mustaine, James LoMenzo, Dirk Verbeuren and Teemu Mäntysaari. Megadeth are synonymous with skeletal mascot Vic Rattlehead and have released 16 albums to date, the last of which - The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! - came out in 2022. Over the course of their career they've been nominated for 12 Grammys, winning their first and only gong in 2017 for their track Dystopia, which triumphed in the Best Metal Performance category. Mustaine, who overcame throat cancer in 2020, has had a long-standing rivalry with Metallica, for which he co-wrote early tracks such as Metal Militia, Phantom Lord, The Four Horsemen, Ride the Lightning, and The Call of Ktulu. Brian Slagel, Metal Blade Records owner, previously said: 'Dave was an incredibly talented guy, but he also had an incredibly large problem with alcohol and drugs. He'd get wasted and become a real crazy person, a raging megalomaniac, and the other guys just couldn't deal with that after a while. 'I mean, they all drank of course, but Dave drank more… much more,' Slagel continues. 'I could see they were beginning to get fed up of seeing Dave drunk out of his mind all the time.' But in 2010, tensions softened and the so-called Big Four of thrash - Anthrax, Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth - played together on the same bill. 2
