Review of 12 Strong (2018) by Auderus A — 30 Jan 2018

As a desert storm vet I can say that this movie captures some reality. The relationship between the ODA Captain and the General he is assigned to rings home. They have some initial questions about each other and the core thing is that the young inexperienced Capt.

who is introduced to War has to get his killer eyes. Like Heart of Darkness on which Apocalypse Now is based the young Captain goes on a journey. Some lessons learned include: that Afghan fighters fight with a belief and heart that the next life has more to offer than the present life, where as the Americans may not have faith in a life after the current one.

This indeed does make a fierce fighter if they do not mind death because it may be better than the world they currently live in. Americans fight to survive, but the Afghans fight for a better world at all costs including death.

There was also the lesson that if America leaves they are cowards and if we stay we become the enemy. America almost always leaves and the after math is seldom good for those who assisted and believed in us.

The backstories about the family at home is also very real, my Dad was also a war veteran and I remember him leaving as well as my departures from home. We are still in country in Afghanistan years and years later, we have told them we are leaving but then we stayed and now it looks like Pakistan may be next (Jan 2018).

I believe this move walked a fine balance between history, entertainment and politics... but it also did not shy away from what the fighting Warrior goes through. Weekend athletes and professional athletes and even people in high paid careers talk about being warriors, this move show a small tiny slice of what being a real warrior is, they were outnumbered, they were out gunned, and the air war did not prevent them from going in nose to nose and eye to eye.

Killer eyes was intended to imply that you are no longer naive. It would be nice if most of the critics and people in the world were looking deeper and less naive as well. The balance this movie walked is a thin line and I found it better than American Sniper or Hurt Locker by a long shot.

The characters were more real, the political narrative was not in your face and the action and tech was spot on.