6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.9 |
A team of CIA agents and special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Navid Negahban, Trevante RhodesAction | 100% |
War | 38% |
History | 34% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English DD=narrative descriptive
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Like most contemporary films, 12 Strong lists numerous producers, reflecting the complex
financial cooperation underlying today's studio projects. But in both name and substance, this
plodding tale is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, another in the veteran producer's long line of
tributes to big military hardware and courage under fire. Some of those efforts have become
classics of the genre; one thinks of Top Gun and Black Hawk Down. Others missed the target,
notably the costly and oversold Pearl Harbor, which
reduced one of America's most painful
military defeats to a combination of special effects and soap opera. 12 Strong is cut from the
same cloth as Pearl Harbor, and it even borrows the earlier film's most dubious narrative device,
which is to elevate an early engagement to near-mythic status, overlooking the years of bloody
toil and painful sacrifice that would follow. In Pearl Harbor, it was the Doolittle Raid, which
inflicted only minor harm on Japan but boosted American morale with a symbolic victory. In 12
Strong, it's a successful operation in Afghanistan by a Special Forces unit in the days
immediately following 9/11.
But it was one thing to make the Doolittle Raid a stand-in for the rest of World War II's Pacific
theater so that Pearl Harbor could end on an upbeat note. That war was over, and our side had won. It's
an entirely different matter with the American campaign in Afghanistan, which, at fifteen years
and counting, is still being waged with no end in sight. The heroic efforts to achieve the limited
objective depicted in 12 Strong are not diminished by acknowledging that those actions only
paved the way for vast expenditures of American blood and treasure spanning three presidential
administrations, with multiple changes in commanders and strategy—none of which has
produced anything remotely resembling a victory (or even a consensus on what "victory" would
look like). When Bruckheimer and director Nicolai Fuglsig end 12 Strong with the return of
the mission's commander to his family, the moment is meant to
be triumphant and inspirational, but it falls flat, because it elides the thousands who did not come
home in the succeeding years, not to mention the thousands who remain in harm's way today.
12 Strong was shot digitally by Danish cinematographer Rasmus Videbæk (The Dark Tower), on
the Arri Alexa, if IMDB is to be believed. The image on Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded disc has
the sharpness and detail that are the hallmarks of digital capture, and the color grading has not
succumbed to the temptation to cast a tinted wash over the frame. As a result, the spectacular
landscapes—shot in the mountains of New Mexico as a stand-in for Afghanistan—have been
reproduced in such variegated splendor that they're often more interesting than the trite
characters and minimalist plot. The scenes "in country" are dominated by dusty earth tones,
except at night, when the palette shifts to dark blues and deep blacks. Fine detail is so good that
you can appreciate the increasing layers of grime (and blood) on the faces of the actors, as they
progress from one engagement to the next. Contrast is excellent throughout and never overstated,
even with the copious weapons fire and explosions of bombs, rockets and artillery.
Following its now-familiar practice of reserving its best mastering for its worst films, Warner has
encoded 12 Strong with an average bitrate of 34.16 Mbps, which puts the disc in the generous
compression territory usually reserved for the Warner Archive Collection.
The end credits for 12 Strong list a Dolby Digital 7.1 mix, but the Blu-ray's soundtrack is limited to 5.1, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. Even without the additional two surround channels, the mix is every bit as lively and active as one would expect from a modern-day war epic, with the roar and rumble of heavy machinery testing the subwoofer and the sounds of bullets whizzing back and forth through the room. Dialogue is sometimes buried in the mix, which is particularly unfortunate in the film's opening sections when the squad is being introduced; since I didn't see the film theatrically, I cannot say whether this is a Blu-ray flaw or a reflection of the original mix. The martial-flavored adventure score is by Lorne Balfe, who provided similar service for 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.
The extras have a degree of credibility that 12 Strong itself is lacking, thanks to the involvement
of several real soldiers who participated in the operation portrayed in the film.
If you want to learn something about the heroism of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, watch the
documentary Restrepo and its sequel,
Korengal. If you're interested in the exploits of ODA 595,
read author Doug Stanton's original book, Horse Soldiers. But if you want to see cardboard
characters reciting trite dialogue before charging into simulated battle, then by all means watch
12 Strong. It's a competent Blu-ray, but the film is so shallow that it borders on offensive.
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