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Rating: A bad episode of "Homeland".
Bigelow returns to us, after the Oscar and critical acclaim (excluding me) of "The Hurt Locker", in neighboring territories with the hope of a repeat.
Having left the military behind, she delves into the CIA and intelligence (DEVGRU, specifically, I believe it's Sardinian).
You all already know the story, the one with a lowercase s if you're somewhat familiar with the genre, the one with a capital S if you haven't been in a coma for the last 15 years (September 11, Osama Bin Laden, war, Guantanamo are the tags).
As expected, the two stories converge, in a whirlwind of obsessive hypotheses on how to find the bad guys, bosses who don't believe it, "plots", inevitable showdowns, surveillance, misdirection, torture, etc...
Like in pornos with a plot, there's a strong temptation to fast forward, because everything is clearly set up in a makeshift way to get to the point, people penetrating other people there, 40 minutes of pure action to flush out the bad Afghan here (guess who it is?).
For me, capable of falling asleep with the various "The Raid Redemption", torture, for action lovers, console dependents, and scattered videoclippers probably ecstasy.
The coldness of the camera doesn't help, the characters are detached, but not in that interesting way that lawyers and serial killers generally are in movies, nor cynical à la Gordon Gekko of Oliver Stone memory.
Some will exalt the documentary reconstruction of intelligence work, but the fact that the characters have the personality of a Casini speech makes everything simply didactic. Boredom is the only possible reaction.
Every now and then they try to loosen up, forget the suffocating work of intelligence but just as they start talking about their private lives, a bomb explodes and they clearly lose track of the conversation (happens to me too).
The references to Guantanamo and the violence on prisoners, with such two-dimensional characters, don't awaken our consciences, they dull them, I would have been much more empathetic if they had tortured Huey, Dewey, and Louie, much more human than these actors.
It's a shame to waste the talented Jessica Chastain, relegating her to the cliché role of the ambitious workaholic CIA agent.
The first part of the film is a spy-flavored translation of "A Few Good Men" without Jack Nicholson, Aaron Sorkin's screenplay and Demi Moore's breasts (i.e., nothing, just Tom Cruise).
The second is people shooting.
Just to not name names: "Argo", a direct competitor at the Oscars and similar in content, wins easily in comparison.
Bigelow, stripped of her unforgivable auteur temptations, reveals herself for what she is: a Tony Scott in heels. Much less feminine.Is that enough for you?
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By ilfreddo
It is likely that this figure was beefed up by the director because Kathryn Bigelow’s intent seems to be to personify in the actions of this agent, and in her almost inhuman determination, the desire for revenge and redemption of a nation wounded in its pride.
Reality is often like that. No pompous music to seal the end of an unprecedented manhunt; in Jessica Chastain’s gaze, there is only mild satisfaction for having done her job, but also some sadness because it is inherent in the human condition not to fully enjoy the present and to already look to the future.
