Director: Nicolai Fuglsig, Alcon Entertainment & Roadshow Films, MA, 130 Minutes
This inspiring war drama, directed by Danish filmmaker Nicolai Fuglsig (in his first feature film), is based on Doug Stanton’s book “Horse Soldiers” which tells the extraordinary but true story of a Special Forces unit sent to Afghanistan.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks Colonel Mulholland (William Fichtner –‘Elysium’) gives the order to send a small band of 12 Special Forces soldiers to Afghanistan on a secret military mission code-named Task Force Dagger to fight the Taliban.
The team is led by Captain Mitch Nelson (Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth –‘Thor Ragnarok’) and ably assisted by Hal Spencer (Michael Shannon –‘Nocturnal Animals’) including Sam Diller (Michael Pena –‘CHIPS’) and Ben Milo (Trevante Rhodes –‘Lady Luck’) in addition to eight other men.
Once on the ground the soldiers face a hostile enemy and terrain, not to mention some primitive conditions where survival is dependent on Nelson cooperating fully with Afghani warlord General Dostrum (Navid Negahban –‘American Assassin’) and his followers.
After a series of successful exchanges with the Taliban, assisted significantly by US air support, Nelson and his men are compelled to continue with their mission on horseback like their Afghani allies.
Although the ultimate objective of the magnificent 12 is to capture the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif they must first endure a succession of bloody battles on horseback supported by Dostrum’s men.
In spite of the secrecy surrounding the mission at that time it is quite surprising it took a considerable number of years for this factually based story to reach the big screen.
Despite this being Fuglsig’s directorial debut it is to his credit that he has managed to transform a dramatic storyline dealing with the war in Afghanistan into an entertaining action adventure complemented by some well-choreographed horseback battle scenes.
Of course one cannot overlook the impressive performance of Hemsworth or that of the ensemble cast portraying the 12 courageous characters sent on an enormously dangerous mission that involved unimaginable odds before achieving success,.
The enjoyment of Fuglsig’s war drama ’12 Strong’ is further enhanced by the photos of the 12 heroic soldiers shown in the closing credits.
Vic’s Verdict: 4 Stars
