Zero Yields Zero Viewer vs Movie Empathy

Rating: 5/10 (10 February 2013)

"Zero Dark Thirty" is a gritty but bland depiction of one of the world's most notorious manhunts for Osama bin Laden.
Personally, I could not conjure up any emotional foothold whatsoever, not even disgust during the interrogations sequences, and even the actual 9/11 event itself feels under dramatized. Emotional connection to the primary characters? Not a chance.
I can't for the life of me figure out what Jessica Chastain is nominated for her role. She prissies around in solid black slacks from one scene to the next despite an allusion that Washington has sent her because she's a killer dynamo --hmmm, one who appears queasy at fairly tame interrogation sequences -- I've seen more graphic footage in former Vietnam movies.
The strongest part of the film is its depiction of the actual Special Ops scenario in Abbottabad, Pakistan which yields bin Laden. Extremely well enacted one feels they're running through the house with the soldiers.
I couldn't get a grasp of a plot line, story and again certainly "zero" connection with ANY of the actors. There are at times some pretty intense yelling at one another, profanity of course, but nothing HUMAN. None of the characters, including Jessica Chastain's role -- are ever given room to breath much less develop.
Without any plot or directive, the movie lumbers through an excruciating long, three hour, dimly lit montage of scenes to the final outcome history now knows.