Believability takes to the battlefield
12 Strong
(out of 4) Starring Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon. Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig. Opens Friday in GTA theatres. 130 minutes. 14A War films are notoriously dripping in the kind of rah-rah blood-drenched jingoism that can be very off-putting to regular moviegoers looking for an engaging story with large dollops of action.
A movie filling itself as a “declassified true story” is likely to raise skepticism for the same reason. Stories like these often distort the facts beyond recognition, exaggerating reallife heroism into the realm of idol worship that neither serves the story or history.
That’s why 12 Strong is such a welcome experience. It tells its story, about12 American special-forces sol- diers who spearhead a decisive battle in Afghanistan against the Taliban, with both laudable restraint and a healthy respect for what actually happened.
It’s 2001, just weeks after the devastating 9/11terrorist attacks in the U.S., and the senior military brass are itching for payback.
The mission: to dispatch a crack team of soldiers into the country to liaise with Northern Alliance forces in an effort to oust the Taliban from the strategic town of Mazar-eSharif.
In fact, their main role is to pinpoint enemy targets with precision, so that bombers flying 35,000 feet overhead can rain down their devastating payloads of destruction.
Capt. Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), who’s assigned to lead the elite soldiers, has no prior combat experience so it’s anybody’s guess how well the team will fare in a country we’re reminded has long been a graveyard for foreign invaders.
Speaking of no prior experience, this is the first major film project for Danish director Nicolai Fuglsig, who could easily have botched it. Fortunately for everyone, Fuglsig is a journalist with some experience covering a war zone and, most importantly, has a healthy respect for the truth.
There is a solid thread of authenticity and attention to detail throughout the story, including a veritable play-by-play as the main battle unfolds.
By necessity, the script is a bit light on the families-left-behind aspect — it would have bogged down a film already more than two hours long — and the back stories only touch on a handful of the 12 soldiers, also by necessity.
Hemsworth is a moderately engaging protagonist as Nelson and his uneasy relationship with the Northern Alliance’s Gen. Dostum (who later becomes vice-president of the country) is relatively believable.
Michael Pena provides some subtle comic relief as bombastic Sam Diller.
Filming was done in New Mexico, not Afghanistan, but the fine cinematography by Rasmus Videbaek displays a landscape both oddly beautiful and at the same time cruel and forbidding.
Fuglsig, meanwhile, handles the complexities of the battle scenes with aplomb, building necessary tension while satisfying diehard action fans.
The script could surely have been more finely tuned and character development is mostly absent. But as war stories go, 12 Strong amply provides yeoman’s service to the genre and to actual history.