Cazando a Bin Laden

Seal Team Six is a 2008 American war film directed by the producer of The Hurt Locker, John Stockwell, inspired by actual events. John Stockwell (born on March 25, 1961) is an American actor, director, producer, writer and former model. It's a low-budget film which deals with the end of the infamous al-Qaeda head, Bin Laden, on May 2nd 2011. Moreover, it's a very short film which lasts only 90 minutes. After receiving orders of their superiors about the guarded compound in Pakistan, US intelligence have to dismantle the mission in a time limited. Very close to Zero Dark Thirty by Kathryn Bigelow, SEAL Team Six focuses on the truthfulness of the events and of the actions. It looks like a documentary which protects the X files of the government. The facts in the film were not "confirmed or denied" by White House officials. On the first hand, the script and direction are fairly matter-of-fact, even if there are lots of amazing shots of sunsets and landscapes), but on the other hand, there are lots of excellent performances as Connors, Ross Martin (as Mangus), Kamala Devi (as Teela), Pat Conway (as Captain William Maynard), and Adam West (as Delahay). These performances show why Geronimo is a success. The defects of the film are to avoid torture and to add fiction to reality. Yet, this film has lots of qualities as the final gunfight, the suspense, the moment of actions and the witch hunt against Bin Laden. We can also talk of the effects which engender the sense of danger and peril. They are no clear "bad guys" and "good guys" here. Rather, the conflicts of the film are portrayed as resulting from cultural dispositions, duty and necessity. Moreover, the film is visually amazing. The movie seems to be fascinating and full of new development but it has some little errors. It was nominated for the "Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries Or Movie" and for the "Outstanding Sound Editing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special" in 2013. It was not the red-carpet premiere that John had in mind. Positive criticism: "Very interesting, I look first "Zero Dark Thirty" because it was a famous film by Kathryn Bigelow, and I personally think that "Code Name Geronimo" is better than it. The acting is amazing!" Negative criticism: "Fichtner, once again typecast as a stern authority figure, is arguably the best of a mediocre lot, but fails to ignite the film's plethora of arduous and poorly written scenes within US intelligence HQ. Similarly irksome is the grating contrivance that almost no member of this apparent 'crack team' of SEALs is able to keep their emotions in check for seemingly any longer than five minutes. Predictably, macho face-offs are in plentiful supply."

To conclude, I personally think that this film is a human and subjective vision of the war by the soldiers who are constantly trapped between life and death. I prefer Seal Team Six because it is more realistic than Zero Dark Thirty which is too exaggerated.

I think its a good movie, except for the Obama propaganda aspect of it. It does credit to those who actually are responsible for killing Bin Laden. To those with intelligence and who are informed, it will be hard to ignore the fact that the man who was least responsible for the missions success and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to approve this mission, is made out to be the hero. I am disappointed, but not surprised, that National Geographic made and aired this. It has ruined their reputation and exposes its political bias. I would advise to stay clear of this movie. Its government propaganda that has little to do with facts.

Seems that any work of art depicting big historic moments must somehow live up to the subject in its own right. What would normally be a very entertaining, well made TV movie about a Seal operation now becomes a sub standard replication of a historic event that is maybe much too important to be told in such a light format. Or is it?

I don't think it has to be anything more than what it is. If I leave politics out of the equation, all I see is a pretty neat piece of entertainment. Plus points: Camera, lighting, soundtrack, choice of actors, acting performances. Minus points: script, storytelling, at times unlucky mix of real and fake footage.

The performances of William Fichtner and Robert Knepper were especially enjoyable. Knepper did an awesome job in annihilating his T-Bag persona, especially in scenes where the two were together. I admit, you look for that moment where one of them slips back into that Prison Break character. But nope, this was a new ballgame. Kathleen Robertson was the only one who came across non-authentic too many times, making the viewer slip out of the story. Once past her scenes, you slip right back into what is a well made, entertaining evening filler.

All in all I'd say the movie doesn't deserve the bad ratings it got. It's definitely in the upper third. Especially noteworthy are the camera and lighting. Another thing worth mentioning is the low- key acting of Anson Mount and Xzibit. The real world illusion that Kathleen Robertson destroyed was build right up again with the performance of these and the other actors.

If you're not a politically motivated person and you're not looking for a great message or statement, or an up-to the minute precise documentary of the actual events, this movie is well made, light entertainment.

Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden (2012)

*** (out of 4)

Made-for-TV docudrama taking a look at the Seal operation's twenty-two minute mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. The film starts off nearly a year earlier when the CIA comes across information of a possible hideout for the terrorist and then we follow the steps it took to take him down. SEAL TEAM SIX certainly isn't a masterpiece and there are all sorts of flaws in it but at the same time I think it gets the job done with a high entertainment factor. I think the film works best as pure entertainment because there's really a lack of drama or suspense that keeps it from being better. I'm not even certain how accurate everything is but this here doesn't matter too much because there's no question that the film grabs your attention right from the start and doesn't let it go. I think the best moments in the film are all the behind the scenes stuff where we get to see what was going on inside the CIA as they were trying to get the President to sign off on the operation. I enjoyed seeing this stuff as the CIA would have to discuss what proof they had that bin Laden was in this building as well as having to look at what would happen if they were wrong. The performances were all very good and one really couldn't ask for more. The flaws of the film include some very weak CGI effects at times as well as an annoying use of real photographs to try and build drama. Most of the photographs are of President Obama and having still frame photos in the movie just made the thing feel cheap and it certainly didn't add anything. We'll have to wait and see how the second, theatrical bin Laden movie will compare but while this one is flawed it's at least entertaining.

This was a movie I wanted to see based on the hype from NatGeo. This could have been a terrific movie if properly developed, because all the elements are here: how the CIA found Osama Bin Laden, how Seal Team 6 trained for the mission, how Seal Team 6 killed Osama Bin Laden, and the aftermath of Osama's death on the aircraft carrier. Unfortunately, none of this was done; instead, the producers decided to dramatize the killing of Osama Bin Laden and Seal Team 6's involvement in the typical 1940-1950's style. Instead of sticking to the facts of Osama's killing, the producers dramatized his death and the role of Seal Team 6. This movie seems to have been developed way before the news media released all the information they could gather about the killing of Osama Bin Laden and Seal Team 6's involvement. Almost everything has been dramatized to the detriment of the real story. This movie has more fiction than a novel. The movie has the feel of a Roger Corman quickie: bad script, mostly unknown actors, poorly directed, and acted. It was put together way too fast. It is a shame that Bob and Harvey Weinstein are associated with this dreadful movie. At the end, the movie is dedicated to the armed forces and intelligence community for what they do on a daily basis to keep us free. As a veteran, I am insulted with this trash. This movie deserves a turkey rating. Another problem was the way National Geographic presented the movie: way too many commercial breaks with way too many commercials. This movie should have been shown commercial free.