Popular reviews

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  Review by Todd Gaines ★★½ 12

  A story, deserving to be told, but executed in a way, that leaves the audience, for a lack of a better word, bored.

  12 Strong should’ve been an edge-of-your-seat-white-knuckle action adventure. Instead, it is vanilla as vanilla can get. There’s no character development, all the supporting cast looks alike, there’s no sense of dread and it runs at a turtle pace. Chris Hemsworth is serviceable as the lead. Michael Shannon is good, yet feels miscast. Michael Pena cracks a couple of jokes, but that’s it. 

  Men on a Mission movies should be exciting. 12 Strong fails to deliver. As much as the real story fascinates me, I’m left with a cold shoulder after my viewing. Good for insomnia, but not much else.

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  Review by matt lynch ★★½

  It's an easy and obvious comparison to set this up next to something like BLACK HAWK DOWN or 13 HOURS or LONE SURVIVOR but here's the thing, all of those movies are, to me at least, as thrillingly problematic as they are well-crafted, and this is just straight up bland. Even the vaguely offensive parts feel antiseptic.

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  Review by Nicole Kubrick 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ ★★ 3

  America
  America
  America, Fuck Yeah!
  Comin' again to save the motherfuckin' day, Yeah
  America, Fuck Yeah!
  Freedom is the only way, Yeah
  Terrorists, your game is through
  cause now you have to answer to
  America, Fuck yeah!
  So lick my butt and suck on my balls
  America, Fuck Yeah!
  Whatcha' gonna do when we come for you now
  It's the dream that we all share
  It's the hope for tomorrow
  (Fuck Yeah!)

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  Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★ 3

  Boom boom bang. Hey, Michael Shannon, you got KILLER EYES.

  There, that's the movie. That being said, it was better than I was expecting.

  Vegan alert:
  -A character looks at some sheep and says he wants to eat them. Then he pays a herder to buy a sheep and assumedly kills it for food (they don't show the killing of it).
  -At least one dead horse is shown.

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  Review by panos75 ★★★

  The true story of a special forces team that goes to Afghanistan immediately after the events of September 11th and whose mission is to help local fighters in their battle against the Taliban.

  When you use the familiar tropes and story beats of an old-fashioned war movie, along with modern technologies that make the viewer feel as if he is right there in the battlefield, next to the heroes, the end result will definitely be something like "12 Strong". This is in no way a masterpiece of the genre like "Platoon" or "The Bridge on the River Kwai", it lacks both the scope and the scale. But it tells its story efficiently and effectively. Fuglsig's intention is clearly to pay…

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  Review by BeHaind ★★★ 1

  Der beste Afghanistan-Superheldenfilm seit „Rambo 3“. Ganz viel Pathos, reichlich Verklärung und Eindimensionalität, aber als Actiongewitter durchaus fähig inszeniert, wechselt das Geschehen ständig zwischen „Ach herrje...“ und „Ach, geht schon klar“ umher. Wer Amerika mal wieder so richtig doll siegen und die Bösen mit den dunklen Bärten totschießen sehen möchte, ist hier gut aufgehoben. Zumindest die Action ist höchst sehenswert.

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  Review by matthewcutchen ★ 5

  Well. I ended up here because I was on a plane and it was slim pickin’s on the in-flight options. After trying Detective Pikachu not making it even 5 minutes, I saw this and saw that it had Michael Shannon and…

  Half of the dialogue is literally the ‘Muricans making snide comments about the locals who are—newsflash—helping them fight their war. And, when those locals don’t want to risk their lives in the ‘Muricans’ half-baked, likely suicide mission, captain dude-bro (Chris Hemsworth playing a noble and benevolent ‘Murican) makes sure they know they’re a bunch of cowards and that they should feel ashamed of themselves (but don’t worry they come around to being as brave as the ‘Muricans later because…

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  Review by Jacob ★★½

  Everyone in the cast is pretty charming, and the action, while definitely exaggerated, is worth seeing on a big screen. It's just as good as any of the other war-type blockbusters we get these days, but it also reads as more of the same. There's really nothing in these 130 minutes that needed to be there, nor did anything pull me deeply into the narrative. It's too bland. I won't even bother getting into the recurring issue of using the suffering of Middle Eastern civilians to further these American men's narratives and justify foreign occupation and bombing, but that definitely pulled my reaction more towards the negative side of neutral.

  Shout-out to the dude sitting in front of me who got an over-the-pants handjob during a terrorist negotiation scene and then slept on his girlfriend's shoulder the rest of the movie. Truly the life I strive to live in 2018.

  Rating: 48/100

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  Review by Mari ★★½

  me: i don’t even like war movies why am i here

  me after seeing michael shannon: wow i fucking love war movies best goddamn genre

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  Review by JBird ★★½

  Chris Hemsworth is 1 of "12 Strong",
  Promising the war won't be very long.
  In Afghanistan,
  Without a plan,
  Not wondering if centuries of war might be wrong.

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  Review by Cellar Door L ★★★★ 7

  I kinda wish Jon Bernthal is in every war movie.

  Oh no he's not here btw, just saying in a perfect world Jon Bernthal should've been in every war movie.

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  Review by Meyoan Seneviratne ★★★ 1

  "There are no right choices here.
  This is Afghanistan.
  Graveyard of many empires.
  Today, you are our friend.
  Tomorrow, you are our enemy.
  It won't be any different for you.
  Soon, America will become just another tribe here.
  You will be cowards if you leave. And you'll be our enemies if you stay."

  💯🔥🖤