An insight into an event without any insight into the event. A dull, hollow misfire.

Rating: 6/10 (26 June 2013)

The Hurt Locker is still one of those films I can't believe has won Best Picture at the Oscars. Not that it's undeserving, it's just that it came from nowhere. I remember it as a festival favourite in 2008 and I saw it via a screener in the Summer of 2009. I enjoyed it a lot but I don't have any particular affection for it, besides Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie's performances. It lacks something cinematic which I crave from Oscar movies even if I dislike them, although I do kinda resent it for Mark Boal beating Quentin Tarantino for Original Screenplay, which seems like it'll happen again. I was never interested in Zero Dark Thirty and I only watched it out of awards obligation, but I was a little intrigued after a lot of critics loved it. However, I was swiftly disappointed. The script is so dry and procedural that all potential for emotional investment and tension are lost. Although it attempts to have some, it lacks a very essential human and society element to give the film more purpose as common knowledge of the event isn't enough.
While most of the film is a slow adventure to Osama Bin Laden's hiding place as characters mention details lost on the casual viewer, all the explosive scenes beforehand feel like their beats were taken straight from Homeland so none of them or the consequences were surprises. Unfortunately Jessica Chastain isn't given enough consistent material to be truly great, and while she has a few decent scenes there's nothing coherent enough to what her character deserves. Jason Clarke is great in a side role, a real highlight of the first act, and a real shame when he has to leave. The film is overlong, disjointed and void of momentum but there's nothing particularly bad here besides the average approach to the topic. The only irritating aspect is the cinematography with its constant wobbling in every shot. It provides a really bland and dull atmosphere. Zero Dark Thirty is an insight into an event without any insight in the event. With films like this, Zodiac and Argo, I don't think saying "this is what really happened" is good enough to justify them being good when they underwhelm as a film. I don't think there's enough in Zero Dark Thirty to justify it being a film, maybe a book or a magazine article, as long as it's not written by Mark Boal.
6/10