I didn't care for it, really. I went in hoping for a new, modern age Black Hawk Down, but this shit wasn't anywhere close to BHD's greatness. Mark Wahlberg can't grow a full beard to save his life, and it's just jarring to watch him taking orders from Taylor Kitsch, a guy 20 years his junior.

I mean, some of the forest battle scenes are legitimately pretty good, but then some of them just look incredibly fake and CGI. Probably because they were.

Look at this screengrab. It looks completely green screened. And the sun is apparently shining like it's a Lifetime movie.

Peter Berg unfortunately overplays the important scenes and makes them completely overdramatic and glossy, when what was needed was a strong dose of realism. Look at an auteur like Paul Greengrass, who always treats the story as a real life event and can weave together a satisfying and grounded narrative that rings true with authenticity. Berg doesn't have that self restraint and this leads to more and more empty spectacle that tears through one's suspension of disbelief.

The tumbling-down-the-mountain scenes are a perfect example. Now obviously, this really happened, so I'm not questioning that at all. But the way it's filmed and presented in the movie is so over the top and exaggerated that it turns what must've been a grueling ordeal into something akin to comedy. Time after time, we watch these men hurling themselves off the mountain and apparently hitting every single boulder on the way down, with gruesome sound effects of bones breaking. After a certain point, the overkill sets in and the audience starts getting the feeling that they're watching a Looney Tunes cartoon, because how could you possibly live after so many falls and hits? Any trace of realism is gone and you're no longer able to feel for the men, because it's all been so overblown.

When the Chinook gets taken down by the RPG, it was a nice special effects shot. But you don't really feel that much for the men onboard, because you haven't gotten to know them. Eric Bana is pretty much playing the same character from BHD, but we get even less screentime and dialogue to know him. And then there's the rookie, who's just... the rookie. So those two die but it leaves very little impact because the movie hasn't really fleshed them out and made them characters to care about.

Did I get sad and teary at the end when they showed the montage of the real life Navy SEALs? Oh sure, absolutely. Those warriors are amazing and I couldn't thank them enough for their service. I just wish they'd had a better movie to honor them.

3.5/10