Coild War Thriller Transposed to the 9/11 Era

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2013)

ZERO DARK THIRTY is a very well-made film; cleverly photographed, well told, with a stunning central performance from Jessica Chastain as a CIA operative possessing both the determination and the sheer persistence to fulfill her quest to catch Osama Bin Laden. The job is not always successful - along the way she loses colleagues and friends, the victims of terrorist bombs and/or unexpected attacks. Nor does she obtain full co-operation from her (mostly male) superiors, who seem more concerned with feathering their own reputational nests rather than accomplishing the job in hand. However, I do have to admit that the film's structure - the us-versus-them notion, with numerous sequences showing the CIA operatives tracking their prey, as well as spying on one another - is a familiar one, dating from the Cold War films of the Sixties and early Seventies. Only this time the enemies are not the Soviets, but those working for Al-Quaeda. Other clichÃ©s also prevail, including the passing of secrets in dark places, the use of extended long shots following characters walking along corridors, and the final sequence consisting of an extended raid on the Bin Laden lair. Nonetheless the film is quite entertaining, if somewhat lengthy.