Writer: Lester Gan Wai Lun

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Watch this if you liked: "Brothers" & "Act Of Valor"

Director Stephane Rybojad's obsession with the French armed forces is no secret to many; he has even produced documentaries about them, so presumably one would think he'd be the best candidate to portray these soldiers in a film. However, that doesn't seem to be the case, while his intentions were to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers, he wasn't doing them any favour in directing a film with countless holes in its plot.

It all starts when a French journalist Elsa was abducted and held captive by the Taliban in Pakistan for nosing around in their business. With the permission from the French prime minister, a "special force" team of 6 men were dispatched to rescue her. All these happened so early in the film that you just know that something was going to go wrong, and so with what was supposed to be a 1 day rescue mission; turned into a 12 day ordeal of unexpected obstacles. And by the end it, two conclusions could be made; French armed forces are just unlucky and that the Taliban had very bad aim.

The action scenes were humourously done on a budget. The director 'macho-ed' the Special Forces up so much that they could take on what seemed to be an unlimited amount of Taliban soldiers while protecting the deadweight journalist.

The Taliban leader Ahmed Zaief is a Cambridge graduate and spoke perfect English, and apparently those soldiers of his who probably never spoke English in their life could understand the command of "Go get me that sniper's head on a plate right now!".

With that said, if you're an action film junkie with no care in the world for plots, this film really isn't that bad, it clearly shows the cruelty of war but also sheds good light on the Middle East instead of stereotyping them. However, this is by no means a completely enjoyable film, there were so many stories untold which is best left alone to say the least.

Cinema Online, 24 April 2012