12 Soldiers

Now I'm not doubting these guys existed or downplaying their killing abilities but that is really all you get.

The basic plot of US special forces/green berets going to Afghanistan immediately after 9/11 and joining up with an Afghan commander (General Dostrum) to defeat the Taliban is simple enough and that bare outline is true enough it would seem.

Left to it's own devices this could have been a worthy testament to the skills of the Americans and a rare chance to focus on the Afghans fighting alongside them and doing the dying, instead we have Hemsworth being, well, Hemsworth, spouting some pretty poor duty and honour dialogue which in some scenes is just cringeworthy. We have no real idea what this guy is about or why his men follow him, similarly with Shannon's grizzled veteran who is obviously placed there as some kind of counter point but his considerable acting abilities are just wasted. As for everyone else, they are just walking through a series of constructs aiming for the pay cheque at the end. The real failure is to recognise who the hell General Dostrum was and his place in modern Afghan history, instead we have a caricature that belongs to a different era of film making.

In terms of the battles it starts well and does at least show that the real battle winner was the ability of these guys to call in massive air support. However in the final battle where we have Hemsworth leading a cavalry charge of Dostrum's men against truck borne rocket launchers "before they reload" is ludicrous these things fire into the sky, they can't be levelled so charge whenever you like. In fact this whole overly long final act is what spoilt the film for me, it is riddled with cliches and inaccuracies; we have Russian BMP's referred to as tanks when they're not, we have actual tanks referred to as T72's when there were no T72's in Afghanistan, we have Hemsworth firing an M4A1 single handed from horse back and hitting everytime including at a guy firing a tank turret machine gun straight at him, the scenes of Hemsworth and co' up close on charging horses are clearly on rigs not horses, really embarrassing and in the aftermath of the battle the amount of destroyed armour littering the field is just way over the top and to some extent devalues the victory.

If you want a bit of flag waving and bonding and stuff blowing up then go for it but there are better films set in this conflict out there.

The basis of the movie is great. Assuming there was a "little" artistic freedom exercised to make it better for Hollywood, some of it was a little over the top. Classic "video game" action scenes where the hero is being shot at by hundreds of enemies and he never gets hit, and the infinite ammo syndrome (drives me crazy). I think I only saw him reload once throughout the move.

I'd watch it again sometime when my wife isn't going to fall asleep.

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?

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.

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.