Warhorse One

Ok, it's not a movie classic, and I sat down to watch it with low expectations, but this movie turned out to be quite good. I had expected a low budget botch job. Instead, what I got was a pretty well made movie, if a bit corny and by-the-numbers.

It was quite well acted by the cast, with Johnny Strong doing a good job in the title role. And you young actress who played the orphaned girl was very good, too.

The locations were good and even the Talis were quite well played and they did all speak Pushto, surprisingly.

The only annoying thing was that the cinematography got carried away with unnecessary anamorphic blue streaks that looked rather out of place, but that's a minor quibble.

If you're at a loose end, worth a look.

Everyone's a critic these days!

DON'T pay attention to the bad reviews from people wrongly trying to compare this movie to the "Covenant", "Kandahar" or even "Extraction"... it's not trying to be that kind of movie!

In the first place, "Warhorse One" is NOT a big- budget film, so to try and compare it on that level is ridiculous. What does work is the premise of saving a little girl from Afghanistan after her missionary family has been killed. It uniquely works. Especially after the real-life Israeli children kidnappings. The movie has typical low budget flaws but the unique storyline and strong performances from Johnny Strong and Athena Durner, keep the story interesting and emotionally compelling.

I enjoyed the happy ending, beautiful scenery and interesting locations like the village where seasons 1 & 3 of the show "The Chosen", was filmed (Capernaum Studios, in Texas).

I truly can't say that the movie is a great one... It's a budget movie, and that shows.

The filming locations (although stunning) aren't really convincing of (how I picture) Afghanistan's nature.

Not always very convincing special effects...

But I've got to hand it to Johnny Strong (Mirko), he was not only co-writer/co-director/co-main character, but he also was Head of Post Production, Editor and Color, Original score & music, Head of sound design, Lead VFX Design, Makeup and special effects makeup, Camera operator, Stunt Coordinator, Props, Head of Lighting, Miniatures and Miniature SFX all designed, build, and filmed by Johnny Strong.

So he had a lot of tasks to do in this movie, and I don't know if that's always a good thing, but he gets some kudos for that!

The main reason it got a 6 from me is: ''Zoe'' aka Athena Durner.

She acted in a very convincing way, she put down a great character!

She did a great job in making the film a lot more watchable!

I think a new star is born here!!

I really enjoyed Warhorse One but it does take a bit of patience. Hollywood action and military movies have conditioned us to expensive sets and dramatic effects. I found this to be a much more one character focused story with set intimate action sequences. Others have commented on the endless ammunition but I found the attention to detail refreshing with malfunction clearing and a more steady approach as opposed to typical action movies. The little girl is fantastic and provides the core emotion and motivation for the movie. The dialogue was a little quiet but I took this as intentional due to the evasion and covert aspect of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it was a nice change of pace.

In Vietnam the American military establishment consumed an estimated 50,000 rounds of ammunition for every enemy killed.

Back in the days before soldiers sprayed bullets about the field of battle promiscuously (i.e. The Civil War) it took about 60 rounds to "take out" one enemy soldier. The amount of ammunition used in WW2 resulted in 25,000 rounds per casualty. Usually, you go on a combat patrol with around 210 rounds; If you get into a firefight, your ammunition can deplete very quickly.

Yet what we saw in this movie, the frogman, call-sign Warhorse Once wasted his bullets to kill enemies like he had endless supplies of bullets from his logistic arsenal. He usually kept shooting with a salvo of 3 or 4 or even 5 bullets that resulted killing nobody, but when he shot just once, there's a kill. A veteran soldier, alone in the wildness, chased by swarm of enemies should and would never waste his bullets like what we saw in this moronic unrealistic firefights, but he just wasted his bullets so mindlessly generous. It's just made me shake my head non-stop sneering.