Warhorse One
I’m not surprised that there is still a market for very black-and-white war action films- ever since WWII audiences have wanted to see heroic soldiers defeating bad guys- but is there value in them being made? A movie like “Warhorse One” isn’t interested in questioning the reasons of our decision to be in Afghanistan after 9/11 in the first place; it’s interested in giving a martial arts actor a chance to be a part of action sequences, and do something that, for them, honors the men and women in uniform who fought over there. Everything in that part of the film is very surface-level, but Johnny Strong- the star who also writes, co-directs and composes the music for this film- knows the tricks of the cinematic trade to make the film seem deeper. That doesn’t mean the film deploys them successfully.
There is a family of missionaries surrounded by Taliban forces in Afghanistan after the United States withdrawal from the country in 2021. The film begins with two military leaders on the phone, debating trying to get a team in there to get them out. There are jabs at the President for the withdrawal, and eventually, a Seal Team is deployed. But, the helicopter holding the team is shot down, and only Master Chief Richard Mirko (Strong) survives. Until extraction plans can be sorted through, Mirko is on his own to find the missionaries, and not get killed by insurgents. When he finds the family, the father is about to die, leaving only the daughter, Zoe (Athena Durner), to extract. But it’s a long way to go before they can be safe, with militants on their heels.
“Warhorse One” is nothing we haven’t seen before; it’s a very familiar shape and structure, and the screenplay doesn’t deviate from that. There are some good moments in this film- I think the most interesting part of the film is seeing how Zoe comes to trust Mirko, and how they sometimes work together- but the action is fairly lifeless. Strong doesn’t have a lot of charisma as an actor, and Mirko is very stoic (understandable given how the rest of his team has just died), and doesn’t really think a lot beyond what needs to happen. And the bad guys in the film are simple villains, as well. There really isn’t much in the way of complexity in this film, and while I understand not getting into the politics of our two-decade quagmire in Afghanistan, some depth of purpose in the characters- both good and bad- might have helped make “Warhorse One” a top tier military action film instead of just a middling one.
