With the wounds to the USA still smarting after the 9/11 atrocity, their intelligence services learn of the whereabouts of a senior Taliban leader. He is ensconced deep in the Hindu Kush in a remote village where any attempt at extraction is going to prove exceptionally difficult. Undeterred, though, a team of navy SEALS is assembled under the command of "Lt Murphy" (Taylor Kitsch) and supported by "Danny" (Emile Hirsch); "Matt" (Ben Foster) and his number two "Luttrell" (Mark Wahlberg). Getting near to their target doesn't prove so very difficult, but when they encounter a trio of goatherders they face quite a dilemma. Some suggest that they detain them until the job is done, but "Murphy" concludes that the law abiding thing to do is to let them go about their business, abort the mission and return home declaring it compromised. En route to their extraction point, though, they find themselves surrounded by a substantial and well armed group of soldiers and are soon fighting for their lives. What now ensues sees a kind of guerilla warfare as they must strive for a vantage point that will enable their sat phone to get a clear signal and summon help. Meantime, their base is concerned that they haven't heard from them and are desperate to set off in search - but a lack of escorting Apache helicopters means that their options are limited. With the odds looking increasingly against the trapped soldiers and with their numbers beginning to dwindle, salvation looks less and less likely until assistance comes from a most unlikely and courageous source. This has something of the grittiness and plausibility of a "Paths of Glory" (1957) to it as it mixes effectively the tensions of close combat warfare with more of the psychological impact on those fighting. The intimate action photography moves along almost as quickly as the gunfire and this also depicts a series of scenarios that illustrate the general availability to the Taliban of weaponry that very much kept them in the fight against those theoretically superior forces. It's really the last fifteen minutes, though, that differentiates this from so many similarly structured films and these remind us that the Afghan people are not all zealots and that their ancient laws of hospitality and humanity are every bit as much worth fighting for for them as basic principles of decency and courage. To be honest, I wasn't bowled over by any of the acting here, but maybe that's the testament to the tightly-knit ensemble effort that really did prove the inter-dependence of these men, and by the conclusion there is jeopardy abounding as to whether or not any sort of rescue - for anyone - might occur. This is a tense and authentic-looking film that's well worth a watch.
