Compared to a lot of the other actors in the MCU, Chris Hemsworth is a guy that I wish had better luck in other films. With his portrayal of Thor, we know that he has the ability to lead a movie through his star power and charisma, and he proved this with the incredibly underrated Ron Howard film Rush. Sadly though, the guy has had much more misses than hits outside of The Avengers movies, with bargain bin filler such as Red Dawn, In the Heart of the Sea, and the incredibly middling Black Hat. I can’t really blame these movies on him, but it’s safe to say that his recent filmography has left something to be desired. So when I heard that he was starring in a war film about the first responders in Iraq that was to be released right after awards season, I initially shrugged it off thinking it would be another throw away film at the beginning of the year. But surprisingly, 12 Strong managed to subvert my expectations and managed to rise above what one might think of the movie due to its release.

12 Strong is set in the early 2000’s and is focused on a team of CIA Paramilitary officers and US Army Green Berets. After the September 11th attacks, this group of 12 service men team up with the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan in order to wage war against the Taliban forces. With this being a war movie, I have to say that this movie doesn’t really bring anything new in terms of story details. While this may be based on a true story and it does seem to honor these events quite well, the plot was not the main area of this film that was carrying me along. While the film may not devolve into many cliches that plague bad war movies, the plot was very standard and didn’t really offer me any surprises. What did carry me along through this film was the cast and characters. While actors like Chris Hemsworth, Michael Pena, and Trevante Rhodes all give great performances on their own part, this movie takes their talents and fuses them together to make them act as a great squadron. You really buy the brotherhood and commodore of this team and the fact that no one actor or character in this film stands out as the focus helps this fact. My favorite character interaction is between Ben, played by Trevante Rhodes, and his child body guard who works for the Northern Alliance. At first, Ben is weirded out by the kids obsessive nature to protect him, but as the film goes. he begins to truly care about him. The only actor that really stands out on his own his Michael Shannon, who plays Chief Warrant 5 Officer Hal Spencer. Michael Shannon steals the scene in pretty much any movie he’s in, but it was nice seeing him play a bit more a heartfelt character in this film. The cast’s dynamic in this movie is what made me enjoy myself, as it saved it from its somewhat forgettable story.

Although creating a realistic group of soldiers that you grasp onto should be war films main priority, it also helps if the directing and filming of the movie is up to snuff. And while the directing in 12 Strong doesn’t make it the most memorable film in the world, director Nicolai Fuglsig does get the job done by letting you take in the causalities and effects of war. With this movie taking place in Afghanistan, the movie uses a lot of wide shots for you to take in the landscapes and horizons. While the filming makes the movie seem big, the editing of always keeping the camera closed in on certain characters during battles makes the battles seem more intimate. You end up rooting for each service men that the movie presents you because the movie takes every opportunity to show you that every one of these men are important and are serving the mission in their own way. This also makes the fact of what happens to each of the soldiers in the end to be incredibly amazing. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but let’s just say that you’ll be shocked to learn what the outcome of these soldier’s lives ended up being. If there is one major complaint I could levee at this movie, it would be the pacing. This movie is two hours and ten minutes, which is way to long for the amount of material they were covering. If about twenty minutes of this movie were left on the editing floor, I feel like we would have had a much better film. But with the film we got, it was directed well enough and had just the right amount of tension to keep me interested.

When you are making a movie based off a true story, it can often be difficult to tell if the events are too positive, as audiences might walk away thinking the film was to convenient. But Nicolai Fuglsig was able to create a great story about brotherhood that these complaints I would usually have seemed to dissipate. In the end, 12 Strong is an ok war movie that despite having a run of the mill story, saves itself by having a good cast of characters. if you find this movie at a matinee showing time, this might be an ok watch. But honestly, this is a movie you can wait to watch when it comes out on demand. This is one movie that most definitely gallops to victory.