Michael's Movie Grade: B+
An excellent war film.
Despite having Guy Ritche's name in the title, this is not your typical Guy Ritche movie in any way. This is a much more serious and often somber endeavor without much of the filmmaker's trademark smart-alecky humor. Yet most of this movie sees Guy Ritche at the top of his game. That is because under everything this is a deeply human story. Much of the film rests on the relationship between two men, a U.S. Army sergeant (Jake Gyllenhaal) and an interpreter (Dar Salim) during the War in Afghanistan. Over the course of the film this friendship evolves into something truly beautiful and does so in such a natural and believable way, which is helped by great chemistry from our leads). This creates a strong emotion bond to the movie that keeps us highly engaged through the whole film. As such this becomes a very emotional ride as it is this relationship on which the entire plot of the film rests. This is not to say that the movie does not explore deeper themes as it certain does. Though Guy Ritche is not quite known for message movies, he gets this message across very effectively. This movie tells of how the US left many of the Afghans who helped the US and saved many American lives to fend for themselves. This is a very important message and one that deserves to be heard and this film tells it in a respectful, mature and intelligent way. This important message never feels like it is being preached to us, but like a naturally part of the story. Though this movie may not be a true story, it is inspired by many similar real-life events and that can be felt throughout the film, which has a feeling of a real-life urgency.
This film does have some faults though. One of them is that the other characters, besides our main two, come off as bland and simply not very interesting. Another is that towards the last act this film in many ways becomes the Hollywood action movie, it has avoided being for the rest of its runtime. This can feel jarring and like it doesn't belong with the rest of the film. This is not helped by some plot devices that feel a little too convenient to be believable, which feel at odds with the realistic nature of most of the film.
Despite some faults, this is an excellent movie and one that has a truly important message.
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