Saw It Last Night

The downsides: Ritchie loved to do peculiar things with the camera angles. You’d be in the middle of a dialogue scene and suddenly the camera would be filming it from the ground looking up. Scenes at the garrison air base had obviously unnatural looking CGI solders aimlessly walking around in formation like NPC’s (and duplicated it multiple times). There were some times I felt like Ritchie went cheap due to a limited budget. The planes and attack helicopters were all CGI and there were very few actual military vehicles utilized. It seemed apparent the U.S. military declined participation in this film (probably because the story focused on the loyal Afghans left behind). As characters mentioned various military acronyms, Ritchie would flash the meaning in the middle of the screen in giant font with the same tempo as the character said each letter. Maybe this was for foreign audiences because after 20 years of war, I don’t think the Americans going to see this movie need I.E.D. spelled out for them. There also seemed no need to announce each character’s real life name and rank in giant white letters in the sky because the story did not require you to have these identities committed to memory

The upsides: The story was fantastic and very entertaining. It had me on the edge of my seat. It revolves around the loyalty of two men to each other despite vastly different backgrounds and massive initial distrust. And the two lead actors were very good in making you become invested in their survival. The small unit battle scenes were very realistic and credible. There were no Rambo style exaggerations. Guys ran out of ammo and got fatigued and mistakes cost people their lives. Heavy weapons turned the tide of battle, not manufactured heroism you only see in a movie. It was also the first time I’ve heard cinema automatic weapons fire and explosions sound really loud and true to my experience from the Army. You could feel it in your chest and sometimes it was startling which gives a sense of how soldiers perceive it in suddenly lethal engagements. There was no politics and no pandering woke stuff. The movie was fair in its portrayal of American military and political operations, good and bad. You definitely were made to hate the Taliban but also realize how dangerous and determined they were. The American guy’s wife character had a great scene where she played the supporting spouse role opposite to the stereotype which was refreshing. In the end, you really do come to appreciate the sacrifice made by ordinary soldiers from both the U.S. and loyal Afghan forces.

In all, I give the movie a solid B.