Weak

Rating: 4/10 (14 December 2018)

After the tragic events of 9/11, the US determines that the Taliban in Afghanistan is the source of many of the attacks on US citizens and assets. Their first step in confronting the Taliban is to send in Special Forces teams to link up with the Northern Alliance, the enemies of the Taliban, help them in their fight against Taliban, including through coordinating air support, and reduce the Taliban's territory. The first team "in country" is Operational Detachment Alpha 595, lead by Captain Mitch Nelson. The 12 of them face overwhelming odds. This is their story.
War movies generally fall into one of two buckets. First is the engaging, plot-and-character based, realistic, gritty type, e.g. Saving Private Ryan, Platoon. Second is the superficial, gung ho, all-action and nothing else type, e.g. this movie.
Quite weak, formulaic and lacking in substance. From the outset the clichés start to flow and they never let up. The attempts at engagement are so badly done - the trite family life scenes, the clumsy attempts to create some sense of camaraderie - that you already know the director isn't much good and this isn't going to go well. Anything that's not a battle scene is generally eye-rollingly bad.
The battle scenes, however, are quite well done and prevent this movie from being a total waste of time. A bit over-the-top at times but still interesting viewing.
Overall, give it a miss. This is not to detract from the bravery and achievements of the actual ODA 595, whose feats are worth capturing in a film. Just not this film. They deserve better.