Post by Harold of Whoa on Feb 12, 2018 5:27:25 GMT
I saw 12 Strong this weekend. I enjoyed it well enough, I suppose. It is a perfectly watchable 21st Century pop war movie "based on a true story" about some special forces soldiers in the very early days Afghanistan who rode some horses.
Man-oh-man, though, can you feel the formula playing itself out every second of the 2:10 run time! Every box is checked, in order, no deviation. Perfectly sanitized of any uncomfortable moments of reflection, there doesn't seem to be a particle of suppressed irony anywhere in the thing that, even though the story is about the critical need to finish the mission at hand pronto - as in three weeks - seventeen years on from the depicted events we are still fighting in "the graveyard of empires" with no end in sight, nor in fact any particular set of goals that would constitute possible victory available for contemplation.
No matter, though. In one particular mountain pass approaching one particular town, ass was kicked and names were taken, and it was done by beefy Americans on horseback leading Afghans who have been fighting over the same rubble for generations, for centuries. Chris Hemsworth arrives by chopper and within a few days is giving a grizzled Northern Alliance leader a lecture on the difference in being a warlord and being a general, and we, the audience, pretty much buy it. So, there you have it - this is a meta-statement on the war and the domestic ambivalence thereto.
There are some good moments. One of my favorites is the outset of the first battle, where the Northern Alliance general/warlord is directing our heroes to call in an airstrike on what he tells them is a Taliban-held village (the warlord guy at the beginning cares only about the Americans inasmuch as they "bring bombs"). Hemsworth is not convinced. "How do I know they are Taliban?" The NA general whips out a walkie talkie and starts directly taunting the Taliban leader, calling him 'dog' and 'donkey' and telling him how they are bringing somethin' for his ass, at which point we here Taliban hooting and shooting. BOOM!! B-52 strike! Hilarious!
Man-oh-man, though, can you feel the formula playing itself out every second of the 2:10 run time! Every box is checked, in order, no deviation. Perfectly sanitized of any uncomfortable moments of reflection, there doesn't seem to be a particle of suppressed irony anywhere in the thing that, even though the story is about the critical need to finish the mission at hand pronto - as in three weeks - seventeen years on from the depicted events we are still fighting in "the graveyard of empires" with no end in sight, nor in fact any particular set of goals that would constitute possible victory available for contemplation.
No matter, though. In one particular mountain pass approaching one particular town, ass was kicked and names were taken, and it was done by beefy Americans on horseback leading Afghans who have been fighting over the same rubble for generations, for centuries. Chris Hemsworth arrives by chopper and within a few days is giving a grizzled Northern Alliance leader a lecture on the difference in being a warlord and being a general, and we, the audience, pretty much buy it. So, there you have it - this is a meta-statement on the war and the domestic ambivalence thereto.
There are some good moments. One of my favorites is the outset of the first battle, where the Northern Alliance general/warlord is directing our heroes to call in an airstrike on what he tells them is a Taliban-held village (the warlord guy at the beginning cares only about the Americans inasmuch as they "bring bombs"). Hemsworth is not convinced. "How do I know they are Taliban?" The NA general whips out a walkie talkie and starts directly taunting the Taliban leader, calling him 'dog' and 'donkey' and telling him how they are bringing somethin' for his ass, at which point we here Taliban hooting and shooting. BOOM!! B-52 strike! Hilarious!
