USA TODAY International Edition
Hemsworth rides hard to rescue ‘12 Strong’
Minus the magic hammer, Chris Hemsworth’s career as a leading man is spotty at best. It seems he just needed horse co-stars.
The Thor star saddles up as an Army Special Forces captain in 12 Strong (★★g☆ rated R; in theaters nationwide Friday), a commendable war drama based on the first American military offensive in Afghanistan after 9/11.
Director Nicolai Fuglsig’s action film, based on Doug Stanton’s 2009 book Horse Soldiers, isn’t particularly innovative in terms of genre storytelling — gruff, scenery-chewing officers and home-front drama? Check and check. But the movie digs into the diplomacy of the time and mines the fragile emotions in those early days in the war on terror. Also in its favor: a thrilling battle with good guys on equine transport vs. an army of tanks and missile launchers.
After a couple of years training with his unit of Green Berets, Capt. Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth) has transferred to a cushy desk job when he and his family watch in horror as two planes strike the World Trade Center. Though he has never seen combat, Mitch fights to be redeployed with Chief Warrant Officer Hal Spencer (Michael Shannon) and the rest of his men, who volunteer to head to Afghanistan as part of Task Force Dagger. The mission teams their elite squad with Afghan warlord Gen. Dostum (Navid Negahban) to take back Talibancontrolled locales, battle an enemy force of 50,000 and deal a blow to al-Qaeda.
The rub? The troops have to ride on horseback because of the mountains, and Mitch has to befriend Dostum and smooth over feelings when a parallel mission arises involving a rival general in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
Unlike his non-superhero star turns in Blackhat and the Huntsman movies, Hemsworth has charisma and physical presence that really pop here; in the insane situation of soldiers on horses facing off with an armored division, he at least looks strong enough to survive the experience.
The distinct lack of character development in Ted Tally and Peter Craig’s adaptation doesn’t help the various members of Mitch’s Green Beret battalion: Most of them have more facial hair than personality. The exception is Moonlight standout Trevante Rhodes, whose sergeant develops a tight friendship with an Afghan boy.
What 12 Strong touches on in a real way, though fleetingly so the film can get on with all that horse-on-tank action, is the commitment to service after that fateful day in 2001. Mitch and his troops don’t have to think hard about fighting back, yet they’re torn between duty and the families they’re choosing to leave behind.
There’s gripping emotion, for sure, and huge battleground set pieces, though 12 Strong goes a little over the top with its action-packed climax. But Hemsworth’s machismo is all real, and for two war-torn hours, you’ll forget about that hammer of his.