The Objective

Every country in the world has a collected storehouse of stories involving Ghosts, Goblins and things which go bump in the night. In the far East, from the tall rugged mountains of Afghanistan, comes this legendary tale of violent death which re-surfaced in the 21st century. The movie is called " Objective " and tentatively based on the legendary incident, concerning one Dr. William Brydon otherwise known as 'The Massacre at Khourd Caboul.' writer/Director Daniel Myrick tells the story of a C.I.A. operative, Benjamin Keynes (Jonas Ball) who is given a covert assignment to venture into the mountains of Afganistan and find a mystic leader named Mohammad Aban who possess special information concerning the area. Accompanying him will be an elite military team, led by Chief Warrant Officer Wally Hamer (Matt Anderson) and a local guide named Abdul (Chems Zinoune). What begins as a routine reckon mission to find and deliver a mystic leader, develops into a mysterious search, destroy and survive encounter with an ancient, but very powerful stellar phenomenon. The movie endeavors to enthrall an audience with crude scenes imitating 'Close Encounters and Predator. With a stiff narration and a poor story-line, the cast tries its best but fails on several levels. Still, it is an interesting movie, if one doesn't expect too much. I would have thought the original story of the British Massacre would have been a better investment. ***

After watching this movie I came straight back on IMDb to see if I could make sense of what I had just watched. But after reading all the comments so far, I am none the wiser. It definitely did remind me of 'Blair Witch In The Desert' (with an Apocalypse Now style narration throughout) albeit without the hand camera so at least you don't feel queasy at the end, just a tad confused

Having said that, it did command my attention until the end, and I did enjoy it. After about 1/2 an hour its pretty obvious that the ending isn't going to be neatly wrapped up so it shouldn't leave you too disappointed

I was drawn in by the concept, though I think that people expecting a traditional ghost story may be a bit disappointed by the lack of exposition, plus the lack of a tidy conclusion that draws everything together. Much like The Blair Witch Project, the ending is ambiguous, leaving you to draw your own conclusion as to what just happened. If you happen to be familiar with Middle Eastern occultism and mythology, you'll probably recognize a lot of themes and concepts, but if your knowledge is limited to Disney's Aladdin, I think you'll be completely lost, due to the lack of exposition or explanation. The most interesting aspect to this movie, that draws it away from being your normal ghost story, is that the supernatural events are couched in terms of UFO lore. Are the antagonists insurgents? Ghosts? Interdimensional travelers? UFO aliens? Djinn? Who knows. In the end, it's not really all that important. It is the melding of these two similar yet disparate themes (contemporary UFO conspiracy theories and traditional mythology) that make this movie more interesting than if it had just gone one way or the other. The problem is that this is basically a rehash of The Blair Witch Project, with people descending into mutinous fist-fights, getting lost in areas that defy both maps and local knowledge (with the requisite compass going haywire), and straaaange symbols that seem to be part warning and part curse. In fact, I felt like I was watching a strange mix of The Blair Witch Project (which I disliked quite a lot) and Apocalypse Now (which I really enjoyed), with elements of Close Encounters mixed in, near the climax. I think this works better than BWP (partly because the acting was so horrible in BWP), but it still ultimately fails, because, like BWP, it's basically just a bunch of guys walking around, seeing increasingly spooky stuff, with no real payoff at the end. In that sense, maybe it's more of an "experience" than it is storytelling, and how much you enjoy this movie will probably hinge on whether you're looking for an interesting experience or conventional storytelling.

The only original idea in this movie is to unapologetically use an actual, on-going and bloody war as a superficial backdrop to a pointless and hackneyed plot. The crew seemed like a good bunch of guys, and I'm sure they had a ton of fun in Morocco filming this. Too bad nobody has done the hard work of coming up with a coherent vision, purpose and narrative; of aligning location, characters and story; of coming up with a meaning or a graceful way of avoiding imposing a meaning; or, at the very least, of making an engaging thriller.

Stephanie Martin's cinematography, however, did make the movie much more bearable. Well-done and beautiful. Even stunning at times.

The score was quite good as well, I thought.

Should we follow these brave men on their objective, or should we go on the subjective and fail their mission?

The film is set in Afghanistan (don't know where it's actually filmed, though) and thus creates a believable atmosphere and setting. The story does not deviate from what we have come to expect in Military-Sci/Fi-things as of late, but still manages to set itself apart from the paranoia and suspicion evolving the CIA. The story is told through the main-character, on his journey to uncover the truth about some abnormal readings in a remote area of Afghanistan.

The main-character is, however, also my main problem. He is dry, he is extremely dry. Not showing emotions or even just humane reactions, he becomes a shadowy figure and, sadly, falls into the stereotypical role of an agent on a secret mission. His voice is monotonous and overall he lacks charisma. The other characters are as believable as they come. They actually seem like real people you would meet on the streets. Just that these guys are soldiers and not regular people.

The story is slow to evolve but as their sightings grow in both number and essence you'll find yourself wanting to know more. Only a few times does the film seem boring but as a whole, it's worth the wait to let it unfold. The story is not original, mind you, but what is these days?

Technically the film is sound. Nothing particular about it, really. It's mediocre and it's seems happy to be just that.

Anywho, give it a go if you want to kill off an hour and a half and not making it feel like a complete waste of time, but don't expect a film that'll save your day.