12 Strong Action

‘12 Strong’ Blu-ray Review: Chris Hemsworth Saddles Up for a Tale of Valor and Sacrifice on the Battlefield

May 1, 2018Ben MK



FEATURE: 
In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Special Forces captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) and his 12-man ODA 595 team volunteer to be the first American soldiers to enter Afghanistan, where they must forge an alliance with an Afghan warlord named Dostum (Navid Negahban) to reclaim the key city of Mazar-i-Sharif from Taliban control.

With a price placed on their heads by ruthless Taliban leader Mullah Razzan (Numan Acar) and only three weeks until the unforgiving Northern Afghanistan winter sets in, Mitch and his team (Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, Austin Hébert, Austin Stowell, Ben O'Toole, Kenneth Miller, Kenny Sheard and Jack Kesy) face a race against time and seemingly insurmountable odds. Outnumbered, outgunned and with nothing but horses to ride into battle on, they must make their way across treacherous terrain and formulate a plan to take back Mazar, with or without Dostum's help.

Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig and based on the declassified true story told in Doug Stanton's 2009 bestseller, "Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan," 12 Strong easily earns its place among other post-911 war dramas like America Sniper, Lone Survivor and 13 Hours. A tale of valor and self-sacrifice on the battlefield, this is a film that flies a familiar flag, but it does so in a way that respectfully honors the real-life heroes, and with patriotism to spare.

AUDIO & VISUALS: 
12 Strong charges into the fray with an impactful 1080p encode that puts viewers directly into the thick of the conflict. Image quality is sharp and full of detail, and from the costume design to the landscape, the color palette is uniformly beige and earth-toned, with good color saturation levels throughout. The disc also comes equipped with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (sorry, no Atmos), which creates an equally immersive soundscape characterized by the sounds of Chinook helicopters, galloping horses, automatic weapons fire and explosions.

EXTRAS: 
Warner's two-disc Blu-ray combo pack includes an UltraViolet digital copy, a DVD copy and the following Blu-ray extras:

  • 12 Strong: The Making of an Impossible Mission (22:05) - A look at the actions of the real-life heroes depicted in the film and how the filmmakers brought their story to the big screen, from the actors' weapons training to the challenges of filming in remote regions of New Mexico.
  • Monumental Effort: Building America's Response Monument (10:13) - Sculptor Douwe Blumberg talks about his work creating the monument, from the effort poured into getting it completed in a short timeframe, to the pride he felt when the final piece was unveiled to the public.

12 Strong is available from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as of May 1st, 2018. The Blu-ray features English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 5.1 Descriptive Audio tracks. The film is presented with English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. The total runtime is 2 hrs. 10 min.






You May Also Like

0 comments