12 Strong Review

Green Berets still kick ass

1/20/2018 – While Navy SEALS may be the poster boys of US Special Forces in the current day and age, it wasn’t always that way.  Ask your Grandpa who the baddest was.  He’ll tell you about John Wayne and might even hum the melody to a famous ballad.  BTW: That iconic song makes a cameo in 12 Strong.

Operationally, Army Green Berets and Navy SEALS have very different types of missions.  Distilled to one paragraph, SEALS’ missions are rapid and violent, hit n’ run, whereas when Green Berets deploy they stay for the long run. Assignments could last months or years in country for a Green Beret.  However, that wasn’t the case for US Army Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha 595 (ODA 595).  As part of Task Force Dagger, they were key elements, alongside  USAF Combat Controllers and General Abdul Rashid Dostum of the Northern Alliance.

 The film captures in great detail the uniqueness of Captain Mitch Nelson’s (Chris Hemsworth) mission, which is the quintessential mission of the Green Berets; He must infiltrate enemy held territory, gain the trust of a local war leader, and assist in the combat effort to achieve an objective.  There is no shortage of gun battles, action and some tremendous horse riding in 12 Strong, but director Nicolai Fuglsig takes great pains to show the diplomatic aspect of the Green Berets mission.

It was great to finally see Michael Shannon as Chief Warrant Officer Cal Spencer, one of the members of ODA 595, on the big screen in role where he is not a villain.  He absolutely shines like a bright star in role where he gets to play the good guy for once.   One particular line of dialogue he utters during the second act sums up the dilemma Nelson has in winning the trust of Dostum, “At least they’re not milking us for money and supplies“.   Throughout the film Shannon offers advice and is a very likable character, one of strong cast of supporting actors. Micheal Pena portrays Sergeant First Class Sam Diller and also turns in an impressive performance.

What impressed me most about this film was the reaction of other fans in the theater.  The teenage girl who sold me the ticket was raving about how great it was before I walked in.  Old white women in the movie were laughing at Peña’s one-liners.  At, what really caught me by surprise, was the applause at the end of the film.  On a lazy Sunday afternoon, people burst into spontaneous cheers at the end of the film.

I expected a great action film.  I didn’t expect everyone else in the theater to experience such a powerful and vocal reaction.  They loved it!  While there were some tense moments in the film, I never truly felt the Green Berets were in much trouble.  Fans of Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor, Zero Dark Thirty, American Sniper, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi will enjoy 12 Strong.  It is a well paced and beautifully filmed movie, that forgoes some of the contrived bravado that soldiers depicted in Hollywood carry with them.

I’m glad to see the Green Berets getting some daylight on the big screen.  In 2017, The Battle of Marawi was fought and won by Philippine Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Video footage of this does not show any Green Berets, or other US Special Forces involved with President Rodrigo Dutere’s effort to rid his country of terrorists.  However, it would identical to the Green Berets mission depicted in 12 Strong.  Look for a major motion picture about the war in the Philippines and declassified information in about 15-20 years.