द होर्नेट्स नेस्ट

I have just finished watching this documentary. While some people are giving negative comments about the documentary and the journalists part in it. People are under the impression this was only to be about America's Military in Afghanistan. However, near the beginning Mike stated that he had sacrificed his family because he neglected them and choose to be a war correspondent. He felt he had this last chance to connect with his son and if he blew it he would lose his son.

Mike is an award winning journalist. He is a war correspondent. He has covered world conflict for 30 years, and was kidnapped and threatened with execution as well as been a survivor of suicide bombing. Carlos and Mike embedded themselves with U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division to bring their perspective of the war in Afghanistan. His coverage dates back to Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Without journalists like him we would never be able to understand some of the things that happens in war. To see someone injured or who has died makes it so real for us. Every day men and women at war go to work everyday not knowing if they will die today. They hunt down the really bad men in this world and although I do not believe in the death penalty, I wont lose sleep if these kinds of men die.

Carlos and Mike were 2 different people in the end of the documentary then they were at the beginning of it. They finally had their connection, their bond as father and son.

I feel they have made sacrifices for us as well...

The wars our soldiers have endured in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve the best possible understanding by an informed citizenry. This documentary is about as close to being shot in combat as you will get to see. Take off your political hat and just watch and listen to the bullets fly past. Men are killed in this documentary (though you don't get to see the incident). Men die because they can't be rescued in time. You get to see heart break their friends, sergeants and officers feel at the loss. I also recommend you read/listen to "The Good Soldiers" by David Filkens about our troops in Iraq. If you do all that--then you can really say the words: "Thank you for your service!"

At its core I love what this doccie does: it presents some front line perspectives of American soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. That in itself is impressive and at times harrowing.

But then the movie wraps itself in a jacket of awful ideas. The soundtrack feels ripped from every reality show made in the past few years. I almost started to expect a host from something like Fear Factor to show up. The storytelling is also very convoluted. It skims details and personalities, briefly introducing them before running to the next plot point.

While it goes out of its way to highlight the sacrifices made by the soldiers, The Hornet's Nest gives little clarity on what is going on half of the time. Other than bring across the intensity of firefights, much more isn't revealed.

But my biggest problems are the cheap narrative tricks. At times moments are made more dramatic than they are, especially if it involves one of the journalists potentially getting shot. This is done twice and both times it's more a trick of editing than what actually happened.

I'd liken this to Ross Kemp's Afghanistan doccies: intense, but vapid and a little bit exploitative. You don't come out of The Hornet's Nest learning much, other than Americans are great soldiers. If that is the point, this succeeds. But it could have done so much more with its material instead of feeling like a made-for-reality-TV special.

Could have done without the contrived father/son drama at the start of the film, it was so bad I almost stopped watching it. Luckily I kept on watching it, it really picked up steam in the second half when the film was devoted to the 101st in operation strong eagle III. It really highlighted the sacrifice of the soldiers and their willingness to give all.

I was a civilian contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, the losses and ceremonies commemorating them were always sad. The professionalism of the US troops, despite the politics and questionable nature of the Iraq War always made me proud.

First review of a movie and I plan to keep it short.

This "movie" is pretty dang good! I spend hours searching for good suggestions for movies on IMDb, but everyone has a different favorite genre. If you like this movie then here are another few you'll be sure to enjoy:

RESTREPO SEVERE CLEAR KORENGAL ARMADILLO BEASTS OF NO NATION

and some actual movies: Lone Survivor American SNIPER FULL METAL JACKET (crazy movie lol) BLACK HAWK DOWN etc.. I could go on forever but these are some good starters

ENJOY !