Now I'm not doubting these guys existed or downplaying their killing abilities but that is really all you get.
The basic plot of US special forces/green berets going to Afghanistan immediately after
9/11 and joining up with an Afghan commander (General Dostrum) to defeat the Taliban is simple enough and that bare outline is true enough it would seem.
Left to it's own devices this could have been a worthy testament to the skills of the Americans and a rare chance to focus on the Afghans fighting alongside them and doing the dying, instead we have Hemsworth being, well, Hemsworth, spouting some pretty poor duty and honour dialogue which in some scenes is just cringeworthy. We have no real idea what this guy is about or why his men follow him, similarly with Shannon's grizzled veteran who is obviously placed there as some kind of counter point but his considerable acting abilities are just wasted. As for everyone else, they are just walking through a series of constructs aiming for the pay cheque at the end. The real failure is to recognise who the hell General Dostrum was and his place in modern Afghan history, instead we have a caricature that belongs to a different era of film making.
In terms of the battles it starts well and does at least show that the real battle winner was the ability of these guys to call in massive air support. However in the final battle where we have Hemsworth leading a cavalry charge of Dostrum's men against truck borne rocket launchers "before they reload" is ludicrous these things fire into the sky, they can't be levelled so charge whenever you like. In fact this whole overly long final act is what spoilt the film for me, it is riddled with cliches and inaccuracies; we have Russian BMP's referred to as tanks when they're not, we have actual tanks referred to as T72's when there were no T72's in Afghanistan, we have Hemsworth firing an M4A1 single handed from horse back and hitting everytime including at a guy firing a tank turret machine gun straight at him, the scenes of Hemsworth and co' up close on charging horses are clearly on rigs not horses, really embarrassing and in the aftermath of the battle the amount of destroyed armour littering the field is just way over the top and to some extent devalues the victory.
If you want a bit of flag waving and bonding and stuff blowing up then go for it but there are better films set in this conflict out there.
