12 Strong review

12 STRONG:

A WELL-ACTED WAR-DRAMA THAT HONORS THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN ITS FACT-BASED STORY, EVEN IF IT ABANDONS DEPTH AND STRONG CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR AN OVERBLOWN WAR SPECTACLE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Chris Hemsworth in 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers

            I find it humorous that in January 2016 we had the release of the war film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and in January of this year, history repeated itself with another war drama. Danish photojournalist, Nicolai Fuglsig makes his American directorial debut with 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers, based on Doug Stanton’s non-fiction novel, Horse Soldiers.

            The film focuses on a group of CIA paramilitary officers, U.S. Special Forces, and USAF Combat Controllers as they are sent to Afghanistan following the events of the September 11 attacks to fight back. I have not read Stanton’s book but as a war movie and a directorial debut, it’s a perfectly serviceable film, pretty much the same opinion I had on Michael Bay’s 13 Hours.

            The war sequences in this movie are incredible but at times they’re really overblown, and the emotional depth and development of the characters take a backseat for explosions and gunfire, makes sense because it’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, The Rock, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise). 12 Strong doesn’t really do anything new with the war genre and as much as I liked this movie as well as 13 Hours both films suffer from amazing action sequences but weak characters, which makes it harder to be invested in the people stuck in the war.

            In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Task Force Dagger, a team consisting of CIA paramilitary officers and U.S. Army Green Berets are sent to Afghanistan to join forces with General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban-Charlie Wilson’s War, Homeland, American Sniper) of the Northern Alliance to conduct unconventional warfare against Taliban. These twelve soldiers go down in history as the first group of people to fight back after the horrors of 9/11 with nothing but their wits, weaponry, and horses.

            The film stars Chris Hemsworth (Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Cabin in the Woods, Rush) as Captain Mitch Nelson, Michael Shannon (Man of Steel, Midnight Special, The Shape of Water) as Chief Warrant Officer Cal Spencer, Michael Peña (End of Watch, Fury, Ant-Man) as Sergeant First Class Sam Diller, Trevante Rhodes (If Loving You is Wrong, Moonlight, Westworld) as Sergeant First Class Ben Milo, Geoff Stults (Wedding Crashers, October Road, J. Edgar) as Sean Coffers, Thad Luckinbill (Sicario, La La Land, Only the Brave) as Vern Michaels, William Fichtner (Crash, The Dark Knight, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)) as Colonel John Mulholland, Rob Riggle (The Other Guys, 21 Jump Street, Hotel Transylvania) as Colonel Max Bowers, Elsa Pataky (Fast & Furious franchise, Snakes on a Plane, The Wine of Summer) as Jean Nelson, Austin Stowell (Whiplash, Bridge of Spies, Battle of the Sexes) as Staff Sergeant Fred Falls, Jack Kesy (The Strain, Claws, Deadpool 2) as Charles Jones, Fahim Fazli (Argo, NCIS: Los Angeles, American Sniper) as Commander Khaled, and director, Taylor Sheridan (Vile, Wind River, Yellowstone) as Brian.

            Overall, 12 Strong is a decent war film despite focusing more on spectacle over establishing its characters. The movie’s well-acted though nobody really stands out aside from Hemsworth or Shannon, maybe that’s because I’m so familiar with their Thor and General Zod performances.

            As mentioned before, the war sequences are intense and impressive to watch but at times it feels like they’re on repeat. They don’t wreck the movie, but it can be noticeable and a little boring after a while.

            I feel like if they focused more on developing the characters and the horrifying and emotional impacts of war, this could have been up there with Saving Private Ryan or even last year’s Dunkirk as one of the best war movies of all time. But as is, it’s a paint-by-numbers war film that’s thrilling to watch and well-acted but doesn’t really offer much outside of that.

            The story is “Strong” but the execution could have been “Stronger”, take it for what it’s worth.