Horse Soldiers

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.

Perhaps not the best war movie ever made and a bit predictable, but a truly well done and well acted insight into the first response to 9/11. Yes we win. Guess what? We won in real life too. It's about the journey not the well known destination. It's a ride, on horseback. Enjoy it for what it is. The one star reviews are simply ridiculous. Somewhere between a 6-8 is reasonable and rationale.

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.

12 Strong is based on truth and it would seem that in itself goes a long way as it took until a decade later for this story to become known through the book on which it was based. Quite simply it deserves the big screen treatment as it was a first victory in a war which goes on as I write this. The heroism is off the charts as everything changed the minute the 12 dropped in. Importantly the movie gets this point across. If it often seems like a lunatic's gamble as the small group of 12 immediately were split due the lack of trust by the Northern Alliance's war lord. Again the movie pulls no Hollywood bombast in depicting this. It seems like even our supposed allies are so distrustful the operation is doomed. As far as the battle scenes go there's that suspicion it may have received some of the Hollywood action movie push. I say don't over analyze this as it gets the point across of how desperate the situation really was and how focused, disciplined, and well trained our brave 12 were. The bottom line is this is a good homage based on real events and that always hovers large. If it could have been better depicted I'm certainly not sure exactly how as the victory was near impossible and that is captured on film quite realistically. I have nothing but praise for these fearless 12 warriors and I'm proud their story is now displayed for all of us who they put it over the line for. See the film and don't pick it apart, rather, be proud there is another great generation and just be glad we have soldiers like these 12.

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.