Review of 12 Strong

Review: This is one of those typical, heroic American war movies, were the Americans fight for pride and glory, for the good of there country. I liked the character building throughout the film, which gave the movie a meaning, and I liked the fact that you saw some of the soldiers at home with there families before they went into battle. The fact that it is based on a true story, also made the film enjoyable but it isn't anything that we haven't seen before. The movie is based around 9/11 when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre in 2001. While the attacks are happening in New York, Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) is moving into a new home with his family but he receives an assignment to staff duty under Lt. Col. Bowers (Rob Biggle). Mitch wants to gather his old unit to fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan but Bowers turns him down, even though his unit is fired up for the task. Veteran Soldier, Hal Spencer (Michael Shannon) manages to convince Bowers for Mitch to command the 595 unit to go into battle, so he is briefed about the mission from 5th Special Forces Group Commander, Col. Mulholland (William Fichtner). After leaving their families, the unit head towards Uzbekistan to fight against the Taliban, alongside a Northern Alliance leader Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban). It takes some time for Abdul to trust Mitch and his team but once they work out there differences, they get on with the mission to capture Mazar-i Sharif, a critical city in Northern Afghanistan, from the Taliban. They also want to take down the Taliban leader Mullah Razzan (Numan Acar), who rules local communities brutally under strict Sharia law and has murdered several of his own people, including Dostum's family. Before they leave for battle, Dostum tells Mitch that he only has 6 horses spare, which means that he has to leave 6 of his unit behind, under Spencer's command. Using American AirPower, and Dostum's knowledge of the Taliban methods, they manage to destroy many of the Taliban's compounds, on the way Mazar-i Sharif. Spencer and his team join the unit but he is badly damaged by a suicide bomber and is forced to make his way back to safety. With the use of heavy attacks from the Air Force, and the Northern Alliance, they manage to destroy the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and Dostum comes face to face with his enemy, Mullah Razzan, who he doesn't hesitate to kill on the spot. It's extremely intense throughout, and the performances from the whole cast made the film seem real but the outcome wasn't surprising. When you see the real soldiers towards the end, I did feel quite emotional, especially after watching their amazing journey on horses and the fact that they were only the second unit to fight against the Taliban after the attacks, which means that they were going into the unknown. They were also fighting against the weather because it would have been impossible for them to fight against the enemy during winter, so time wasn't on their side. Anyway, I found the movie entertaining, mainly because of the performances but I have seen this type of movie many times before. It's still worth a watch, if you want to see Chris Hemsworth out of his Thor suit but don't expect an original masterpiece. Watchable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Nicolai Fuglsig. Who also brought you Exfil in 2017. As I haven't watched any projects before, I can't really compare his work but from a stand-alone point, he did a good job in terms of authenticity and reality. Being from Denmark, he took on a big task to take on an American, true war story but with Chris Hemsworth being very much in the public eye at the moment, he must have known that this movie was going to get a big audience. For his second film, it didn't do to bad at the box office, and I'm surprised that he was able to make a war movie with such a low budget. Anyway, it didn't do Michael Shannon, or Chris Hemworth's career any harm, mainly because he stayed true to the original story, and he made the American's look like true heroes, once again.

Budget: $35million Worldwide Gross: $70.5million

Genre: Action, Drama, History Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, Rob Riggle, William Fichtner, Navid Negahban, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, Austin Stowell and Elsa Pataky. 6/10