Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Maya has no friends, no family and no hobbies, at least none Zero Dark Thirty bothers to show. Jessica Chastain plays her as pure focus, an analyst who counts the days in marker on her boss’s office window, and that chill makes the long middle years of dead ends feel like reading case files. That’s the intent, and it still drags across 157 minutes. The early interrogation scenes sparked a real public debate about whether the film suggests those methods helped find the courier, and the movie never tells you what to think. Kathryn Bigelow shoots the hunt like a procedural, and the final raid plays out almost entirely in night-vision green with barely any music, as tense as anything she has made. James Gandolfini brings a blunt, tired weight to the CIA director. An 8.4 because it’s precise, serious and refuses to turn the ending into a celebration. $30.51 says a number scribbled on a glass window catches your eye this year, and your mind goes straight to Maya’s day count.

What works: Jessica Chastain’s steely lead, Kathryn Bigelow’s precise direction, and a final raid that is almost unbearably tense.

What doesn’t: Maya stays a sketch of determination for most of its 157 minutes, and the middle years of dead ends drag.

Who it’s for: Grown-ups up for a serious, detailed procedural about recent history, and ready to think hard about what they’re watching.