Competent and important, but not great

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2015)

While much has been made of the depictions of water-boarding in the film that supposedly "condone torture," this film has no political agenda. Depicting torture unflinchingly certainly doesn't amount to an endorsement. However, the film is unevenly paced, overlong and lacking in character development. While I respect the choice to depict "enhanced interrogation" (torture) so viscerally, it takes up far too much screen time in the early going and is not great film making. The rest of the film boils down the hunt for Bin Laden to the persistence of one woman who works for the CIA (known simply as "Maya"). What should have made the film more affecting and personal ultimately weakens it since we never can relate to this under- written character (or any others, really) despite a career best performance from Jessica Chastain. While the film has some terrific set pieces (the real time depiction of the raid itself justifies a viewing) and individual performances (the late great James Gandolfini also has a great role as former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta), the end result is a bit underwhelming considering all of the hype. "Zero Dark Thirty" is a competent and important film, but not a great one.