Intricate

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2013)

I feel like people are going into this film with the wrong expectations. I'm not sure what most people went in expecting but I got pretty much what I thought maybe a little less. Not as powerful, emotionally resonant or captivating as Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow's controversial follow up to that film is still a throughly engaging, edge of your seat dramatic thriller. One that realistically for the most part tells the stories of the brave women and men involved in the hunt and assassination of the terrorist known as Osama Bin Laden. The film chronicles and centers on the exploits of a woman named Myra who id hired to lead the search. What follows as we all know are many the pitfalls and fake outs that happened over the years eventually leading up to the event. What we do see an an addition to that is a look on the inside of the investigation. The anxiety ridden events, the tragedies, the friendships, the assassination attempts, the vendettas and although the film doesn't fully work as a procedural because there doesn't seem to be enough detail or as a character piece because it doesn't seem to want to go to those depths it does work as a smart, adult piece of grade a entertainment. Jessica Chastain tackles her role of Myra with a fiery, school girl enthusiasm I can imagine such a person filling that role and the supporting roles fill out nicely as well. I'm sure many things were added to dramatize many of the events and you can feel the Hollywood anchor throughout but the film still carries a subtle power to it and even though you know what the culmination of the events will be you still feel like you don't know how they will enfold. And that is the stamp of some truly intricate film making. 4/5