12 Strong

                     

BBFC rating 15
Released 26th January 2018
Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Micheal Shannon. Micheal Pena, Navid Negahban
After the attack on the Twin Towers on the 11th September 2001, American soldier infiltrate Afghanistan , with Captain Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth) leading the first group into the war. The film  plays out very much like you would expect a modern war flick to, introducing the provocation that causes the all American heroes to go into the enemies territory to hold up patriotism. However, the film doesn't seem to feel like the traditional Flag waving, Red White and blue America loving war film you would expect it to be, partly because the focus of the film is on an Australian actor, but also due to the range of character you get out of it, with the film ending up being split between two groups, and does well to keep the viewer kept up with all the backstory and makes you feel a part of the team, with the exposition not being rammed down viewers throats. However, at some points the accuracy of what happened lead to some of the scenes being quite repetitive, including many of bombing scenes to weaken city defences, which could have been cut in place of other scenes which could have sped up the pace of the film. As well as this a lot of the characters went back to a single line, which goes along the lines of ' I' made a promise, I'm going home ' which if used in the right amount would have been good, but was so overused it was almost cliché. Also I felt Michael Shannon was underused and just disappeared for a good chunk of the film which could have been sorted out. However the end of the film is very moving and had a very nice montage of why it has taken so long for this film to come out, and in the end was enjoyable and relatively easy to watch for the most part.
Final thoughts: A good gritty action thriller that isn't too patriotic as too ruin the film, but could do with more close up combat.
Contains Blood, gore, strong violence, strong language and frightening scenes
My rating 7.3/10

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