Finally a war movie where you can root for the heroes

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2018)

Finally a heroic war movie with lots of action that is an interesting true story and the viewer can root for the hero because they are on the right side of history. There have been a lot of war movies recently that are on the depressing side where everyone but one is killed, or it's an anti war movie where the futility of war and being on the wrong side for the wrong reasons, or they are up against overwhelming odds and put up a valiant fight but fail. 12 Strong isn't one of those being set in 2001 before things got all muddied in Iraq.. The story is simple and clearly explained and the mission is easy to understand. They are the first force to go after Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. As things progress the battles become more and more intense from planes dropping bombs then scary gun battles to tanks vs horses to a grand finale that is a true Western style horses and guns blazing all out battle. The cast is good - Chris Hemsworth doesn't overwhelm the screen so he is convincing enough. Michael Shannon plays a soldier quite well too.
There are a few slightly cheap things about the beginning and ending, it's not as slickly done as a Peter Berg movie. Nevertheless it's a good solid almost old fashioned in concept war movie that leaves you with a good feeling.