The Hornet's Nest Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Hornet's Nest Blu-ray Movie Review

This is war.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 17, 2014

Any War film can be as realistic as it wants to be, but no matter how hard they try, how much they get right, how accurate the tone, how gruesome the violence, how raw the emotions, how real the people, they just cannot imitate the real thing. Lights, camera, action, squibs, blanks, costumes, special effects, and precision engineered sound might make the screen light up like war and the theater speakers spit out its horrors, but nothing really says "war" like the real thing. The Hornet's Nest is the real deal. No pretenses, no studio safety gear, no stunt doubles. It's real ammunition, real dangers, real people risking their lives across hostile terrain and with a determined enemy bearing down on them every step of the way. It's real life life and death, a pure, mostly unfiltered glimpse into modern warfare that's far beyond anything a movie or video game could ever hope to create. This is war in its truest form, absent the polish of cinema perfection but gripping its audience with a harrowing recount of war as it was, as it is.

Returning fire.

The film follows the story of Mike Boettcher, a war correspondent of several decades, who laments the toll war has taken on his life, not his physical well-being but rather the disconnect that has grown between himself and his family, particularly his son Carlos. Carlos, desperate to understand what his kept him and his father apart for almost his entire life, travels to Afghanistan with his father to cover the war for ABC News. War coverage has cost 22 journalists their lives; it's not safe, and Carols' inexperience could cost him his own. Their goal: to tell a story and stay alive. The film follows them as they traverse difficult terrain and experience sniper attacks, possible IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), and remains with Mike after Carlos departs for what may be the most dangerous mission he's ever filmed: Operation Strong Eagle 3, a hunt for a high value target that leaves him and the soldiers he is with caught in a dangerous firefight with little hope of survival.

Even if there's not much of a cinematic scope or even much of a linear "narrative" to the film -- it's a somewhat loose account with a tighter focus of a single mission in its second half -- The Hornet's Nest nevertheless does what it does very well, and that's expose the audience to the true nature of war. It engenders plenty of tension as it simply follows the daily Afghanistan grind, which can be little more than loitering, calling in a report, pausing to assess threats, and dodging the occasional sniper round. It's frequently little more than following actions and reactions, and it still flows well as a microcosm of combat and life in a war zone, capturing the essence of both the fighting men and telling the story of a family brought together by a shared experience of violence and danger. The picture never enters classic "rah rah" territory, favoring a realistic, verbally uncensored, and emotionally burdensome experience. The collected snapshots of the first half nicely set the stage for the more focused combat operation that defines the second half, and it's here, in the extended confrontation and the very real physical and emotional tolls, where the film truly solidifies into a challenging, but must-see, experience that captures the true meaning of modern conflict and exposes the hearts and the souls of some of the men who fight in it.

If there's an area where the film could improve, it would be by adding more intimate depth. The somewhat wide opening field of view that narrows to a single operation is fine -- it provides a good total view of the conflict that becomes a more focused event -- but the people who fight alongside Mike and Carlos deserve a little more screen time, even more than they enjoy now. The film is emotionally hefty already, and when the men die it makes a serious impact, but a longer focus on who they are, not just what they do, would have helped the film a bit more. It's a minor complaint and something that doesn't negatively effect the film, just something that could have elevated it into something even more powerful than it already is. As it stands, it's a tremendous effort and a solid representation of war that offers a realistic "you are there" sort of feel because, well, you are there for every little bit, beside every man, for every victory, for each defeat.

The Hornet's Nest Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Hornet's Nest is sourced from lower-end HD video cameras, and the film is built on raw, point-and-shoot photography. The end result isn't a cinematically pretty picture but instead a satisfying reproduction of Afghanistan and the people over there. The image is frequently fuzzy and lacking in crisp, lifelike detail. Occasionally, it tightens up to offer a more balanced, more clear experience that reveals nylon, uniform details, weapons surfaces, and facial features nicely enough, but generally even rough terrain and other oftentimes easy-to-see details are left wanting. Banding, compression artifacts, wavy lines, and other maladies appear from time to time. Colors lack brilliance and stability, but army greens, earthy backgrounds, uniform patches, and other here-and-there hues look good enough in context. The film looks fine for what it is, and if expectations are set for far under the cinematic norm then there should be no real room for complaint.

The Hornet's Nest Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Don't expect big things from The Hornet's Nest's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's a decent overall listen, particularly in the music department, coming across as a little muddled but playing with solid stage placement and envelopment. Gunfire and action effects are nicely spaced, too, fairly immersive but not as dynamically sharp and crisp and lifelike as one might find in a "real" movie. Here, they're somewhat filtered and reduced in intensity through whatever microphone captured the action but still with enough presence and accuracy to nicely shape the battle dynamics. A few nice speech reverberations are to be enjoyed in an airport scene but otherwise this is a fairly straightforward experience without a lot of pinpoint ambient effects. Dialogue is frequently difficult to understand and lost to wind, action, distance, or poor microphone reception; a good bit of the film is subtitled by necessity.

The Hornet's Nest Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Hornet's Nest contains a commentary, news footage, music videos, and more.

• Audio Commentary: Co-Directors and Producers David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud discuss Mike and Carlos, the film's structure and what it depicts, the filmmakers' goals for the film, the war and the details of what the viewers see on screen, assembling the film, the picture's music, and much more. There's quite a bit of detail that only helps the film's dynamic and better define what it, the war, and the people, are all about. A must-listen.
• Interviews and Testimonials (1080i, 22:39): Several participants discuss the film, including Bernie Feldhaus; Oakley CEO Colin Baden, Chairman & President of Infinite Hero Foundation; Sgt. Major of Marine Corp (ret) and CEO of Leatherneck.com Gene Overstreet; Gold Star Widow Seana Arrechaga; Pastor Joe Martin, Jr. of Trinity Church Dallas; 101st Airborne's Shane Shelton; Terry and Elisabeth Burgess; and Wynonna Judd and Cactus Moser.
• Speech by General John Allen, USMC, Ret. (1080i, 9:12): The General discusses the film at an outdoor screening.
• ABC News Footage (480i, window box/4x3, 28:16): Almost thirty minutes of war footage from ABC News, much of which was seen in the film.
• Music Videos and BTS (1080i, 17:01): Wynonna and Cactus Moser with "Follow Me," Politicks with "When the Sky Turns Red," and the making of "My Chariot" and the film's orchestral soundtrack.
• Trailers and TV Spot (1080i, 4:31).

The Hornet's Nest Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Hornet's Nest tells real stories of life and death, of heroism and sacrifice, of courage and brotherhood. It's raw, not visually so but certainly emotionally so. The real footage is harrowing and dangerous. It's frequently unnerving but at the same time it's so well done that the audience will not simply feel the war but come to better understand it and the people who fight in it. It could stand a greater length and a more focused look at some of the soldiers with whom Mike hunkers down in the second half, but that's a small complaint that fades into the shadow of the film's great successes. This Blu-ray release features serviceable video and audio, but it's made by the content. Some good bonus materials come in support. Highly recommended.