'Zero Dark Thirty' minutes too long

Director Kathryn Bigelow is back with another Oscar nominated war drama, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ focusing on the decade long search for Al-Qaeda terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. The film begins with eerie phone calls from loved ones during one of the most devastating days in American history, September 11, 2001. The story begins to unfold, with Maya (portrayed by Jessica Chastain) as a CIA operative who will stop at nothing to find and destroy America’s most wanted man.

‘Zero Dark Thirty’ had its moments. It’s suspenseful, thrilling and a bit frustrating. The film centers on America’s most skilled, dedicated operatives in a case that will go down in history. The only downfall to the film is the fact that it drags on, and is filled with pointless scenes. Everyone knows how long it took the government to find Osama Bin Laden, there is no reason to have Maya go up to her boss’s office window time and time again and write how many days it’s taking them to search his whereabouts. Majority of the film is capturing the hopelessness of Maya and the thought that he may never be found. The film was close to three hours long, and a lot of it was quite boring. There are some torture scenes which were difficult to watch, but interesting to understand why they used the tactics they used, but again, those scenes didn’t have to be as long, the audience is being tortured just witnessing the horrifying events.

Jessica Chastain was truly incredible in ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ She owned and carried this film herself, beautifully. The frustrations that her character ensued, the anger and the final scene when victory prevailed and he was killed, her emotions were absolutely perfect. There is no question as to why she wouldn’t be nominated for this year’s Academy Awards, she was brilliant.

Although, over drawn and a bit boring, there were some fascinating scenes observing how intense and detail driven the C.I.A. and the Navy S.E.A.L team worked at hunting for Bin Laden, investigating his every move, and exploring his whereabouts so there were no mistakes. Bigelow fights to hit every angle of this operation, and overwhelming the audience with not enough emotion, or action, and an awful lot of waiting.

‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is recommended for anyone who enjoys Kathryn Bigelow films, war dramas, films full of intense torture, and the belief that one woman, fought for what was right, and created history.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night 7:00et/4:00pt on ABC for the 85th Annual Academy Awards and root for your favorite nominees to win!