O Homem Mais Procurado do Mundo

With all the hype, I thought for certain this would be a strong 2 hours of television. Wrong. Little character development; less in depth behind the scenes; even the acting was bad. Without the actual footage of of September 11 and Pres. Obama, it would have been even worse. Then NatGeo filled the program with commercials and seemingly ran the same set of spots at each break. Just brutally bad. For contrast, go watch Showtime's Homeland. Indeed, this looked very much like a low budget, independent production filmed on a back-lot south of Los Angeles. I was truly looking for an engaging 'documentary-style' film. I am not quite sure what I saw tonight. And if you haven't seen it, don't. Go watch Swamp People or FashionPolice. I am sure they are better!

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.

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.

here are what i found after viewed this hollow and empty, full of gestures and big patriotic words, absolutely meant nothing but to give a last minute Viagra-like campaign dose for the incumbent presidential candidate. why aired this before the election? why released it so generously on 'facebook' and 'twitter'? i strongly doubt that the national geography magazine liked to show obama that this magazine 100% endorsing president obama and would like to continuously receive full annual budget from this administration by showing that the president has played a critical role authorizing this mission. with this film released just before the election, more voters would vote for him, or voters who once were uncertain would decide in the last few days to vote for him.

okay, lets focus on this lousy film now. there was no strong storyline of this film. the cool actor who played the main character of 'hell on wheels" was totally wasted here. all the guys who played team members of the seal team 6 were just vague cardboard-like figures in this film. the dialog among the team members was so bored, there's nothing to watch for. some fighting scenes were totally unnecessary, they were jammed into this hollow film to fill up the empty spaces. the only good part was the CIA part, but still a very weak part. the training? it's absolutely a joke. the final raid? another big joke. after the raiders killed that 6'5" guy, suddenly, all the seal team 6 members were like taking a walk in new york's central park, walking down the stairs so relaxed, my god, what a lousy final moment of the raid. did you forget that you were carrying a secret mission in a sovereign country without the permission? did you guys know that time was the essence that you should immediately evacuate the target compound? but instead, what we saw was a bunch of u.s. GI so relaxingly walking down the stairs of that building just like walking out of the Yankee stadium after a ball game. give me a break.

again, i am so convinced that this movie was funded by this administration for the purpose of gaining more votes for the incumbent. it's so ideologically disgusting and politically incorrect.