Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 19 January 2018
Review: Hemsworth leads a

solid wartime film in '12 Strong'

By LINDSEY BAHR by his real-life spouse Elsa stay with a band of broth-
AP Film Writer Pataky) but springs into ers worth caring about. In
In the days and months action at the sight of the addition to Hemsworth,
following the Sept. 11 at- World Trade Center falling they are played by Mi-
tacks, a small U.S. Special on the news. He raises his chael Shannon, Michael
Forces unit led an offensive hand to assemble a team Pena, Trevante Rhodes,
against the Taliban and and get over to Afghani- Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill,
Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. stan as soon as possible. Austin Stowell, Ben O'Toole,
They worked in harsh con- Before that happens, how- Austin Hebert, Kenneth
ditions alongside a local ever, we must sit through Miller, Kenny Sheard and
warlord and his men, an another obligatory fare- Jack Kesy. The dialogue
This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Chris uneasy alliance at best, well-to-the-families se- (Ted Tally and Peter Craig
Hemsworth, center, in a scene from "12 Strong."
Associated Press and, even with all the tech- quence to remind us that have screenplay credits) is
nology and money of the many of these guys have more crackling than stan-
U.S. military, executed the wives and children to get dard wartime action pic
successful mission largely back to — some of whom fare, and actors like Hem-
on horseback. are withholding sex as in- sworth, Shannon and Pena
The operation — Task Force centive for a quick home- make it their own too.
Dagger — was classified for coming and others who Politics and consequenc-
years and explored later in couldn't be any crueler to es, both before and after
Doug Stanton's 2009 book a member of their family this mission, are of little in-
"Horse Soldiers: The Extraor- whom they very well might terest to the filmmakers
dinary Story of a Band of never see again. (There beyond wistful musings of
U.S. Soldiers who Rode to must be a way to make Dostum, who makes pass-
Victory in Afghanistan." It these scenes feel less rote.) ing comments about how
provides the basis for "12 It's when the men get to Afghanistan is the "grave-
Strong," a long-in-the-works the Middle East that the yard of many empires" and
adaptation from producer film becomes truly grip- how the U.S. forces will be
Jerry Bruckheimer ("Black ping, thanks to an ominous cowards if they leave and
Hawk Down") and direc- score, a hair-raising heli- enemies if they stay.
tor Nicolai Fuglsig, a Dan- copter ride that rivals mo- But stirring and solid, "12
ish photojournalist who has ments in Kathryn Bigelow's Strong" is the kind of film
shot the War in Kosovo, a "Zero Dark Thirty," and the that might make you think
Levi's short film, and a Co- inherent tension of a mis- twice about January re-
ca-Cola spot in his eclectic sion that, as Nelson puts it, leases, and spotlights a riv-
career. has no playbook. Their task eting story in our recent his-
Films about U.S. military is to meet up with Gen. Ab- tory that many Americans
operations in Iraq and Af- dul Rashid Dostum (an ex- might not know.
ghanistan have a some- cellent Navid Negahban) "12 Strong," a Warner Bros.
what dicey track record. who may be equally moti- Pictures release, is rated R
They can veer from too vated to fight the Taliban if by the Motion Picture Asso-
sentimental to too macho properly persuaded. ciation of America for "war
and bloviating depending Dostum and Nelson form a violence and language
on who's in front of and be- tenuous bond that is tested throughout." Running time:
hind the camera. But "12 throughout the film, as they 130 minutes. Two and a
Strong" is, while perhaps trade the shield of modern half stars out of four.q
not the deepest entry, a technology for horses and
very solid movie with an mules to cross the treach-
engaging story, script and erous landscape (New
cast led by Thor himself, Mexico plays Afghani-
Chris Hemsworth. stan here). The action se-
Only slightly camouflaged quences are riveting, if a
behind a modern hair- little numbing at times, and
cut and some manicured their evolving mission is en-
stubble, Hemsworth is gaging throughout.
Capt. Mitch Nelson, who What separates "12 Strong"
is on leave with his young from the pack, however, is
daughter and wife (played its ability to introduce and

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