6.8

Manhunt Sundance 2013

Movies Reviews Sundance
Manhunt Sundance 2013

Director: Greg Barker

Manhunt is a frustrating experience, though not without its rewards. Greg Barker’s documentary needs to be graded on a curve, to some extent—the story of the hunt for Bin Laden is so damned fascinating, as Kathryn Bigelow and Jessica Chastain just showed us in Zero Dark Thirty. It was perhaps inevitable, and perhaps unfair, that the documentary would live in the shadow of their achievement, but it’s hard not to watch the doc without thinking of the Oscar-nominated narrative film.

Stylistically, Barker and his team receive high marks, as the visuals are impressive, especially the graphics. But somewhere along the line, someone took their eye off of the storytelling in this film. There’s no excuse for audience members to be checking their watches while watching this story. Telling a decent version of a great story is not exactly a triumph.

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