Saying “12 strong” was underwhelming would be an understatement. “12 Strong” is based on the novel “12 strong: The Declassified True Story of The Horse” by Doug Stanton, which dives into the story of 12 men who ride on horseback to try and take over a Taliban headquarter in Afghanistan.

Even with the inspiring true story of the 12 brave men the movie underwhelmed. The movie was not bad, but for the standard set by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the patriotic, feel-good story there was so much more potential to what could have been.

Bruckheimer previously co-produced “Black Hawk Down” which has arguably been one of the best post 9-11 war movies. But now Bruckheimer was all by himself in trying to produce another war masterpiece that did not meet expectations.

This was also Nicolai Fuglsig’s first major movie, who graduated from Danish School of Journalism and primarily worked as a photojournalist prior to directing. His camera skills were evident getting unique shots of fighting scenes and other still shots of the desert.

This was also Chris Hemsworth’s first major role outside an action movie that wasn’t him being Thor. It was strange to see Hemsworth fighting terrorists with guns rather than wielding his normal iron, but he still a decent job regardless. His acting was okay, but in a lead role as a captain leading troops into a foreign country right after 9-11 he struggled. Hemsworth never seemed to get the respect as a captain and was never assertive enough or made you feel like he was in charge and inspiring the whole team.

Although the movie was not up to par to the standard set for post 9-11 war movies, Fuglsig and Bruckheimer did just enough to capture the heroism of the 12 men. But with such a good plot and experience in war films “12 Strong” had the potential to go down as an all-time classic.