A
gritty docudrama that takes a hard, dark, and some what embellished look
at the days leading up to the death of worldwide terrorist leader, and embodiment of pure evil,
Osama Bin Laden. Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar winning director of the
powerful and poignant Hurt Locker, brings us her next military cinematic venture
which attempts to successfully season a recipe of sporadic facts with
a believable sprinkle of dramatic flair. That
concoction works for the most part, minus a few cliches and over the top performances.
The cast plays off each other nicely, with only a few moments of excessive F-bombs
and over dramatics. The biggest flaw is the run time, 157 minutes, and
you feel each one of them tick away. I know it takes a long time to tell
a story like this and Bigelow does not take one second for granted.
However, despite it's noticeable length, it is a riveting story
that grabs you at onset and refuses to let go until the credits roll. It
also portrays our military men and women in a positive light, not a typical Holly-weird standard
but refreshing none the less. The CIA, on the other hand, is played as
authentic as I think you can get, and it is up to the audience to determine
how effective they truly were in their pursuit of the
deadliest man on the planet. Also up for personal interpretation is the effectiveness
of enhanced interrogation as it is thoroughly demonstrated for a good part of
the film, although there is a noticeable slant by the writer and director.
We will never know all the facts regarding what happened
that fateful night or even all the intelligence leading up to it, but
Bigelow lays out a compelling story line that is both captivating
and enraging. 4 out of 5 Kernels: It hits almost all the
right marks but takes a long time to reach its target.
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