To begin with, regardless of your political inclinations, we cannot overstate how thankful we are for the service of the men and women in the military who sacrifice themselves to keep all Americans free and other people who seek America’s assistance.
12 Strong is a story about the first Special Forces team sent to Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. The squad must work together with Afghan warlord General Dostum (Navid Negahban) under new Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) who takes over from his predecessor. This is a true story that was only made public recently through Doug Stanton’s book Horse Soldiers.
It’s an interesting story but at its heart this film is like a medium-rare burger; it has bits of America leaking out of it, it is fleshy and audacious but with uneven texture, slightly raw and not so full of flavor as desired; moreover, there are moments that seem cheesy.
Hemsworth takes the lead in an ensemble cast which also includes such others as Michael Shannon who never disappoints , Michael Peña who can always be counted on , Trevante Rhodes whose role could have been developed better, William Fichtner who never does wrong , and Rob Riggle returning to drama. While everyone plays their roles well enough individually there aren’t many characters that really join together into a cohesive whole: most rather revolve around each other without establishing any connection among themselves or with their audience. It provides tension when necessary or levity when required and these two things balance each other nicely for they occur at appropriate times. However, it tends to meander instead of moving forward purposefully or creating any real suspense during those periods.
Another hitch in 12 Strong comes from its dialogues. There are some instances where the dialogue is too trite to give credit to both the actors performing them and the movie itself—better treatment should have been accorded them because they deserve such. Nevertheless, 12 Strong can be commended for its patriotism that stops short of being jingoistic.
The men are carrying out their mission, fighting from one combat zone to another; and after a while it becomes repetitive as they discuss what is next, make a decision and then attack before regrouping and treating casualties just to repeat the same process in the next location. These discussions are interesting due to their focus on Hemsworth and his Afghan interlocutors strategizing, clashing, arguing and resolving conflicts but there is a problem with tone as it does not quite fit well and sometimes feels a bit too ordinary rather than threatened. Nevertheless, when the fights start those scenes are full of energy and impressive accomplishing the intended shock effect.
There are a few things to remember when it comes to this film being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, 12 Strong is one of his more restrained and thoughtful entries in the field of hero tales, although some of the moments that it tries for are not quite right. It is still gunning for smarts as much as brawn, though, and it does not fail as much as most people would expect.
Summary
However, at heart, 12 Strong is a compelling untold story about true heroes; while the cast ensemble mostly comes off like a partially realistic fella band with some members left behind. The over-the-top action sequences add to its realism whereas at times the script was too heavyhanded. It has its moments but there isn’t enough substance; you’ll be entertained but will wish there were more meat on its bones for these heroes who did their duty.
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