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Written by: Guy Ritchie and Ivan Atkinson & Marn Davies
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Antony Starr, Alexander Ludwig, Jonny Lee Miller
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
During the war in Afghanistan, a local interpreter risks his own life to carry an injured sergeant across miles of grueling terrain.
Verdict
An often intense movie, the first half completely grips you. The second half doesn't have the same heft. It leans a bit too heavily into typical action tropes, punctuated by a weak conclusion. This is missing the emotional tie between two characters, and there's never a chance to develop that. This chooses to force emotion through editing and slow motion, but that just doesn't work.
It depends.
Review
Stationed in Afghanistan, Master Sgt. John Kinley's (Jake Gyllenhaal) task is finding IED factories. He's warned his team's new interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) is too independent, though he's more than capable. Kinley confronts him as a test to get a feel for Ahmed. Ahmed's responses are a bit too smart for Kinley which prompts a rebuke. This interaction makes you like Ahmed. The army likes to push the interpreters around, and Ahmed isn't one to take it.
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| Jake Gyllenhaal plays Master Sgt. John Kinley |
Kinley gets tired of chasing false leads. He's told as long as he gets results it doesn't matter where he got the lead. Kinley goes outside of protocol, and he takes issue with Ahmed telling him his methods won't work. Kinley doesn't like being challenged, especially by someone like Ahmed.
Their lead takes them to a factory, but reinforcements soon overwhelm them. Kinley and Ahmed are chased by a lot of Taliban. It ends up with Ahmed planning to carry Kinley back to base. That seems absolutely crazy. The movie states they're one hundred clicks away. That's sixty miles! You wonder how they could possibly make it back especially since the Taliban are intent to find them. They are always on the brink of death, and it's absolutely wild how far they make it.
That's the first half of the movie, and it's intense. In the second half of the movie Kinley is stateside recovering. He doesn't remember much, but he discovers that Ahmed is in hiding due to eluding the Taliban. He's on their most wanted list. John resolves to go back and help Ahmed escape.
I find it curious this movie gives Kinley an automotive restoration business. It's never addressed outright other than him walking in and out and making calls from there. It's a lot of detail when his job is being a soldier. How would he have time to serve and create this business? I don't doubt his wife could run the shop, but that kind of business is typically very hands on, and neither of them are shown as mechanics. There's so many things the movie could have done that didn't draw attention to this odd fact.
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| Dar Salim plays Ahmed |
Kinley goes back for Ahmed. It's not bad on the face of it, but it culminates in a scene that is so predictable and thus boring. The movie manipulates everything to make this the worst possible scenario. The only thing it doesn't do is make it a complete dues ex machina. We know they're going to be saved, but the movie has them down to no ammo and completely surrounded. We know they'll be saved as we were told a plane is on the way. It's fake stakes, and the slow motion shots accentuate what in many movies is a hopeless situation, but in this we know it's not. I wish this has more tension and doubt. It's playing the emotional angle very hard when it should be working towards an emotional moment between Ahmed and Kinley.
Dar Salim provides a great performance. His choices, expressions, and reactions; they all communicate there is more to this guy that we discover throughout this movie. Gyllenhaal has proven to be formidable, but he's surprisingly overshadowed.
The conclusion is weak, marking a weak second half. You want Ahmed and Kinley to be friends, but they never have those moments. Kinley is unconscious for the bulk of their time together. He's bound by honor more than a feeling, so there's no moment to be had when Kinley and Ahmed reunite.
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