Tropa de héroes

Perhaps not the best war movie ever made and a bit predictable, but a truly well done and well acted insight into the first response to 9/11. Yes we win. Guess what? We won in real life too. It's about the journey not the well known destination. It's a ride, on horseback. Enjoy it for what it is. The one star reviews are simply ridiculous. Somewhere between a 6-8 is reasonable and rationale.

12 Strong is based on truth and it would seem that in itself goes a long way as it took until a decade later for this story to become known through the book on which it was based. Quite simply it deserves the big screen treatment as it was a first victory in a war which goes on as I write this. The heroism is off the charts as everything changed the minute the 12 dropped in. Importantly the movie gets this point across. If it often seems like a lunatic's gamble as the small group of 12 immediately were split due the lack of trust by the Northern Alliance's war lord. Again the movie pulls no Hollywood bombast in depicting this. It seems like even our supposed allies are so distrustful the operation is doomed. As far as the battle scenes go there's that suspicion it may have received some of the Hollywood action movie push. I say don't over analyze this as it gets the point across of how desperate the situation really was and how focused, disciplined, and well trained our brave 12 were. The bottom line is this is a good homage based on real events and that always hovers large. If it could have been better depicted I'm certainly not sure exactly how as the victory was near impossible and that is captured on film quite realistically. I have nothing but praise for these fearless 12 warriors and I'm proud their story is now displayed for all of us who they put it over the line for. See the film and don't pick it apart, rather, be proud there is another great generation and just be glad we have soldiers like these 12.

The book and story upon which this Hollywood flock is based is awesome, and even important. The movie is a fairly standard Hollywood-version military exercise, and I can't fully fault the production team or actors because they have to tell a big story in 2 hours about a major event that should be well known to Americans and Afghans alike, let alone the rest of the world. Plus, no one behind the special effects or acting or script or direction were there. Much like Lone Survivor it's a pretty decent depiction of a true story for a film production, but also much like Lone Survivor, I wish it had taken the source material a tad more seriously, and attached much more telling and brutal realism (like Saving Private Ryan and The Hurt Locker) in terms of mood and dialog and acting, and even equipment and battle scenes. I don't want a Tears Of The Sun fairy tale with my war movies. I want something that transports us there. More realistic tactics, weapons that fire and report realistically, bombs that aren't full of fireballs all the time, etc... All could have been done here. But many would have lost interest in the drama... It's been dumbed down, and 90% of the audience will have no idea.

Maybe I demand too much, or am too picky, or just don't accept the "average" like "average" Americans who don't look any deeper at stuff like war other than action films and headlines. I feel like our veterans deserve better.

Meanwhile, the negative reviews here are by folks who really have no idea what they're talking about, especially when they call it "propaganda". Politics produce propaganda. This is a story based on actual accounts...as in: it happened. Doesn't matter what your politics are. Read the book Horse Soldiers. Talk to more vets. Talk to some Afghani people who know a bit about their own country and the Taliban.

This movie could have been WAY better, but it was sinply "good" as what we've come to expect from Hollywood most of the time. I think it was wasted on misguided and detached production values and sensationalism that can only be provided by limited knowledge and devotion. Had Spielberg made this flick? Might have been an all-time great. And I say MIGHT, because it would be almost impossible to bring the reality and education to the screen that the book was able to portray and provide, and the reality on the ground these men experienced. Why we settle for pop culture education on important matters and historical events as our ONLY education is beyond me. But it seems the American audience wouldn't know the difference if REALITY ran over them in the form of a stampede of horses with a team of US special forces and Afghan militia on their backs. So I guess there's no real hard done, right?

I liked it. Heaven knows why but it's worth seeing. Make up your own mind as it's one of those movies that you need to form your own opinion about.

The 12 Special Forces (SF) men who went into Afghanistan were accompanied by USAF Combat Controllers (CCT) who were the actual men calling in the decisive air strikes. For some reason they were excluded, though they were right there, on the horses, riding with their Army brethren. To leave them out turns this story into more of a fictional portrayal of what really occurred. The courage that the SF troops showed was indeed worthy of telling in this format, but it is remiss in not telling the whole story and recognizing all the men on the ground. I enjoyed the movie but couldn't get past the parts where the SF troops were calling in air strikes. I give it 6 stars for the action though.

On a side note, the CCT personnel accompanying the A teams are highly trained in many facets of special operations, and complete a 2 year training program, which includes required graduation from Military Freefall and Combat Diver, among numerous other courses. These men also earned the right to be recognized for their contributions in breaking the back of the Taliban.