12 Strong is a war drama film based on Doug Stanton’s Horse Soldiers, the non-fiction book
that tells the story of Operation Delta Attachment (ODA) 595, the first troops
the United States deployed to Afghanistan immediately after the 9/11
attacks. Composed of twelve U.S. Special
Forces soldiers (hence, the “12” in the movie title; Chris Hemsworth, Michael
Shannon, Michael Peña, and Trevante Rhodes portrayed four of them), ODA 595 is secretly tasked to fight alongside General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban), a local
warlord warring with the Taliban – the common enemy. Despite the volatility of their uneasy
alliance and being vastly outnumbered, they proceed to adapt in the rough, unfamiliar
environment – which includes requiring them to travel and fight on horses – and
execute what has been considered “one of the US military’s most stunning
achievements.”
This movie is conventional – even
maybe hackneyed – with its delivery.
Nevertheless, it’s pretty solid. It’s
well-directed, well-shot and well-acted.
And while the narrative doesn’t have much sophistication, it still succeeds
in being generally absorbing. Most
importantly, the action is absolutely fantastic, and the set pieces are thrilling
and visceral.
Aside from being enjoyable, it’s also
informative. It’s expected that it would
have some fictional elements and creative liberties. It does have those, of course. But, after some reading on the real-life
story, I was surprised with how much of the incredible details in
the movie are true. 12 Strong is essentially
an unglorified retelling, in my opinion.
In the end, 12 Strong is the kind of movie that can be accused of being a
manipulative, propagandistic puff piece for the American war machine. Well, validating that notion is out of my
reach. But, even so, this is an
objective fact: the US military is by far the most advanced and most active in
the world, which results to a consistent stream of fascinating cinematic material.
Regardless, 12 Strong is legitimately entertaining.
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