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12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers
(Warner Bros Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
Based on Doug Stanton’s book “Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan,” “12 Strong” is one of those modern war movies that’s mostly about the camaraderie of the soldiers than the war itself. You may come for the battle scenes, but you’ll have to deal with many dialogue scenes to get to the good stuff. But with a solid ensemble cast, maybe you’ll still find something worth watching about it in spite of its felt-too-long two-hour run time.
After 9/11, Capt. Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) volunteers and is chosen to lead his team into Afghanistan to locate and destroy the Taliban. Joining him is Chief Warrant Officer Hal Spencer (Michael Shannon), Sgt. First Class Sam Diller (Michael Pena), Sgt. First Class Ben Milo (Trevante Rhodes), and eight other men. Once they arrived in Uzbekistan, they are ordered by their superior colonels Bowers (Rob Riggle) and Mulholland (William Fichtner) to drop into a middle of enemy territory and wait for further orders.
Once there, the 12 soldiers have to make allies with Afghan warlord Dostum (Navid Negahban) who has a personal vendetta with Taliban commander Khaled (Fahim Fazil) for the murder of his family. But to get to the enemy, Nelson has to lead five other men by horse while Spencer has to hold the fort with the other five men. This would lead to the soldiers battling the terrorist army for the liberation of the Afghan city of Mazar-I-Sharif.
On the plus side, this is an interesting true story about an unknown chapter in America’s battle against terrorism. We don’t know a lot about how the American government was able to overtake the Taliban before the eventual killing of Osama Bin Laden as depicted in Zero Dark Thirty, so this offers something revealing about the war on terror after 9/11. In fact, this movie dives a little more into the dark livelihood of Afghans under Taliban rule that’s genuinely disturbing. In some way, the film’s good intentions pull through the most.
But because of the way the story is structured, the movie moves at a snail’s pace throughout its two hour and 10 minute run time. Some of the dialogue scenes could’ve been cut to help pace it better no matter how important they may seem. It doesn’t help that some of the dialogue’s “warrior’s heart” analogies felt phoned in when it’s done better in other war movies. When it does get to the third act filled with explosions and gunfire, it feels satisfying in spite of the last hour and a half. Still, the image of Thor riding a horse while shooting a weapon makes the whole experience worthwhile.
Fortunately, the ensemble cast is the film’s saving grace. Even though he’s playing an American, Hemsworth seems to be struggling with his Australian accent which can be distracting at times. However, his rugged good looks and charismatic presence is still great to watch. Shannon and the other actors playing the soldiers also do a more than serviceable job developing the personalities of their characters. Pena also brings some of the film’s funniest moments as levity to the more intense scenes.
With the best intentions but in need of tighter editing, “12 Strong” is decent enough as it is. It’s best recommended as a rental since it’s not much of a time waster watching it at home.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for war violence and language throughout)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.75 Stars (Out of Four)
