Meh!

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2019)

Was not on my list to see and didn't find it especially attractive. In line with what I expected, though.
I'm usually very entertained by gunfights and action. This is very conventional. The explosions were pretty impressive, though.
Very much geared to the patriotic crowd, the flag wavers. Don't get me wrong. 9/11 was a terrible day and I don't want anyone to be killed by anything. But 17 years later and it seemed dated in its enthusiasm for THAT war, which was more a failure than anything.
A bit disappointed that quality actors like Shannon and Pena would sign up for this. Hemmesworth really does not have range and only looked the part.
Initially was Muslim bating from the subject matter to the brief depiction of the Taliban. Of course the Taliban were monsters and a'holes, but wasn't for another 30 minutes 'til it balanced itself out a bit vs. the Gen. Dotsum character. The other sympathetic element were the Taliban forcing innocent farmers to fight for them, as briefly described. Also Hemmesworth's "first kill" was examined in the scene afterwards, but was also by-the-numbers. Any attempt to say "war isn't pretty" was brief and cursory vs. the cartoonish and over-the-top depiction of the many battle scenes. American Sniper did a much better job being anti-war, even though everyone was saying it was the opposite.
Some very good actors on a good day, but this really wasn't a good day. A lot of action but barely acceptable directing from Nicolai Fuglsig, who per this site has next-to-no credits. I'd be curious on that story, as I've seen big movies given to new directors. But at least those directors did a string of short films.
Of course it was "based on a true story" which I take with a grain of salt. Forgave it with All Is True recently, but that was astoundingly good. But even the cursory reading I did afterwards showed it took liberties.
Miss it if you can.