SUBSTANDARD

12 Strong is an attempt to declassify an unseen chapter of heroism during the 9/11 attack phase, written by Ted Tally and Peter Craig, with debutante Nicolai Fuglsig helming the project.

In a motion picture, the set-up is a climacteric phase. This is where the old world is constructed before going to the new. Characters are introduced and reasons to care for them are planted. If this fails, audiences would be in ignorance of the protagonist(s) dramatic need and the fuel to achieve it. 12 Strong has no character building, jumps straight to Inciting Incident and The Point of No Return, and provides nothing more than just plain, dull, done-many-times family back home waiting for heroes to return post mission.

The script here is clearly a first pass without any polishes done. Apart from the bed-ridden setup, the dialogues are lines we've heard a million times! Conversations are monotonous and long-winded without any focused destination nor direction. The amount of filler, inactive and nonevent scenes are of shocking quantity! Repetitions of explanations and translation are all over!

The strategy-based plot is boring. At the end of this lackluster work, we only got to know 3 out of the 12 characters this movie is named after. Even Michael Peña's jokes as Sam Diller aren't funny nor suitable for the scenarios we're seeing onscreen. However, there are scenes or aspects here which one would sit forward for:

  • General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) directly calling the Taliban military leader to ask whether he belongs to Taliban or not is amazingly hilarious! As this culminates in the finale with the former shooting the latter in a stuck car, it gave a sense of closure.

  • The fact that Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) has no war experiences is kept pointed to his face is interesting, as the story's whole point is to subvert that pre-conceived underestimation.

  • Exchange of tales between Sam Diller and Mitch Nelson over the bonfire is warm.

  • Taliban leader killing a mum because she has educated her female kids is scarily moving.

  • Enemy combatants approaching Cal (Michael Shannon) under the blanket of surrendering is sketchily eerie.

  • To see a rebel leader with soft shades convinces us that we are watching a dimensional character.

  • Ben Milo (Trevante Rhodes) teaching his protector kid how to suck a lollipop is funny.

  • Mitch Nelson launching a march towards last battle is an adrenaline stimulation, accompanied by an inspiring background music to go with it.

Most of the shooting sequences at the end are fun to watch. Props, smoke, rocket launches and the shooting itself look realistic. Cinematographer Rasmus Videbæk deserves special mention for a lot of the great shots our eyes see here. Bomb-drops from mid-air, parachute diving down to land, overhead cloud and landscape shots are well done. Some of the angles are attention-calling as well.

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