Zero To Thirty In Two And A Half Hours

Remember when Kathryn Bigelow made really exciting genre pieces about machismo and obsession? I do. Now she's the go-to Hollywood director for politically charged, controversial, Oscar-baiting docu-dramas. I wish she'd just make another Point Break, or Blue Steel, or Near Dark. I hated The Hurt Locker; thought it was really overrated but Zero Dark Thirty is much better, more interesting and provocative. It's also a draining two and a half hours of your time and a difficult watch because it is deliberately ambiguous. You can read it as militaristic propaganda. You can read it as the end not justifying the means. The film doesn't commit one way or the other. You'll see in it what you  want  to see in it. That's either masterful direction or sitting on the fence depending on your viewpoint. For the most part I think it has it's cake and eats it too. It disguises itself as a detailed forensic-level political thriller but when you break it down into three acts it is basically a torture bit, an explosions bit and a running around a compound bit. It should be unbearably suspenseful and build to strong dramatic payoffs. Instead, it is unremittingly dull, peculiarly lacking in tension and labored. To be honest I'd just rather watch an informed documentary. It does improve the longer you stay with it but not enough. The final act has special forces soldiers moving through the compound in the dark. Like the rest of the film it's  technically impressive but surprisingly hollow and as detached as Jessica Chastain's expression. Her character is hard to engage with over the length of the film. She has no back-story, no life, just a single minded resolve to get the job done. I know that's sort of the point but then don't expect me to get emotional about her crying at the end when you  haven't let me invest in her as a person.