"Zero Dark Thirty" takes place over the several years it took to
hunt down Osama bin Laden, but it feels like it lasts the length
of time it takes to catch your breath.  Kathryn Bigelow's film
borrows a format from TV, the procedural, and applies it to one
of the best thrillers since her own "The Hurt Locker." The story
is vast, spanning years and continents, but the clear, logical
movie draws a straight line from one bit of information to the
next as a pseudonymous CIA agent named Maya (Jessica Chastain)
follows a trail from 9/11 to the secret bunker of bin Laden.  As
in a TV procedural such as "Law & Order," there aren't really
characters in "Zero Dark Thirty." The story is the main
character and a riveting one. We meet a number of CIA agents,
including a torture specialist played by Jason Clarke and a
superbrain played by Jennifer Ehle, but we don't know a thing
about any of their lives. The closest "Zero Dark Thirty" gets to
character detail comes when Maya, in a scene where she stands in
for moviegoers,