A bit long but very well done

Rating: 8/10 (2 September 2013)

Maintain suspense when everyone knows what happened. That was Bigelow's job. She did this, I think, by concentrating on the intelligence chase that led to the location of Bin Laden. The actual shooting of Bin Laden (not a spoiler unless you've been living in a cave) was almost anticlimactic. Thank you, Bigelow, for not doing it in multiple angles in slow motion. Gimmicks would have detracted from the film. The real suspense was also in the chase, and more than a few people died in gathering the intelligence. The torture scenes are brutal. There is little gore but plenty of violence. Bigelow does a good job of making the raid suspenseful despite us knowing the ending. The middle of the film seemed to drag a bit though the beginning and end moved along nicely. The movie crew built stealth helicopters from scratch based on conjecture. They looked very plausible. The DVD has an extra feature called "Geared Up" that is quite interesting.
The cast was top notch. Chastain took on her role completely. She becomes a portrait of obsession, singularly dedicated to getting Bin Laden. Jason Clarke is also a stand-out as Chastain's fellow spook. Joel Edgerton ("The Thing" prequel--yay) leads the Seal Team that ended the long quest for payback.