I really liked this film a lot. I thought I had kind of outgrown my war movie phase in life, but recently have started watching them again. This film is actually pretty entertaining. You do not watch these kinds of films to find inner peace, harmony, the meaning of the universe, or wow you with poetic symbolism, etc. They are for fun only, and on that level, this one succeeds indeed. It's also satisfying for me to see that the country of France still actually has a military with special forces units, and can at least make movies about them "taking care of business" against the crazy fundamentalists in the world. I always thought France would just about put up with everything. I guess they have changed their mind, or I was dead wrong about them! Also, since I saw him in Blood Diamond, I've really come to like Djimon Hounsou as an actor. Great choice to cast him in this film.

There is little positive that can be said about this movie, to be precise, NOTHING.With contemporary movies orientated more towards realism this movie tends to take you back in time to the 80's; "Nothing like the real world"; a shame. SPOILER!!!!To sum it up, a French reporter get's taken by the Taliban after insisting that she can save a girl who is to be killed by them.France acts like the US, "we can not allow that French citizens be treated like this in the world", and dispatches a unit of French SF to save the girl; all this before the President even gives the go.And here it is where it starts to get bad. French SF parachute during plane daylight into the drop zone; who cares that anyone could see them. The SF have a easy time taking out the Taliban holding the girl and start heading towards the pickup zone. Problem starts when the ONE communication device that the unit had with them gets destroyed by a bullet, yes they carried only one, and they miss their ride. The French SF are portrayed as complete inept by director to Stéphane Rybojad, as they just didn't bother to plan ahead an alternative pull out plan "Do you have a Plan B? NO". Also according to him the Taliban seem to living under the rocks in the mountains, as they just keep popping up and killed by the dozens a la Storm Trooper's throughout the entire movie; not to mention that they do not need to rest or anything like that. The French unit enters a escape that last 10 days, going over mountain chains a la Lord of the Rings. The only reason why the French Unit makes it so long is because the Taliban's are just more inept then them. But of course, as a bad movie is, after surviving a face of battle against the Taliban where the French didn't even bother to take any kind over cover, of course defeating the Taliban, they start to get killed one after an other.I love movies and I always watch them till the end, but this movie was SO bad, I started writing this review when there where still 20 min left of it; believe me, in those 20 min it got only worse like a cliché like final face off battle between the hero and the villain.Eventually the girls survives, of course, the hero does as well, of course, and we have a bad cliché ending.If I can recommend anything it would be to not wast your time and watch it, unless it's for a cinematic class where you want to put is as an example of a bad movie and director.

While a tad overlong and light on character development, SPECIAL FORCES nevertheless delivers a fairly solid entry in the modern warfare genre. The plot is rather simple: a French special forces unit (the movie is French/French-produced) is sent in to rescue a journalist from Afghanistan who has been captured by a Taliban warlord. Right off the bat, you are introduced to the principal characters, but not much is given in the way of character development or making the audience care, aside from some small character moments interspersed throughout the latter half of the film. The performances are adequate, with the best being given by Diane Kruger (as the journalist) and Djimon Hounsou (one of the special forces guys). The actor who portrays the Taliban warlord also does a good job, probably adding some depth to his character by having him be Western-educated and somewhat caught between Western culture and his own culture and beliefs, but not much attention is paid to his character either. It also doesn't help that his demise later in the film is done so haphazardly and unceremoniously. As far as the combat sequences go, they were fine and done in current "en vogue" style of somewhat shaky "cinema verite" realism to give a sense of the chaos of battle. The violence was effective and not gratuitous in any way. However, towards the end the movie drags a little bit as we're shown day after day passing of the core group trying to get away from their pursuers and safely back into Afghanistan (they've been wandering around in the Pakistani desert for most of the movie). Overall, the movie is effective in the combat sequences and showing how the special forces team bond with the people they try to rescue. Over the course of the film, you do grow to care a little bit more about the characters but not because you feel like you really know them, just because you empathize with the sticky situation they're in. The movie aspires to be SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (made by the French, and set during the Afghan war), but it falls short of the mark. Still, it makes for a somewhat entertaining, slightly taxing, viewing experience.

First and most important, this movie is a tribute and sadly describe a mission going south. Having watched both versions (French and English) A lot got lost in the translation... It displays an actual and realistic shady world that most don't want to believe exists. Being a serviceman myself, it please me seeing movie like this that revolves real everyday heroes that lives in the shadows. They made it more real than Act of Valor and by far. They can't make it more real and 'pleasing' for the general population than this as anything more would be a documentary. I've seen reviews bashing 'elites' and so on, do your research or speak of experience. Quick example ***SPOILER*** The sniper take down, people wonder why he runs after hitting the enemy in the leg... Where there is one,there is two... He assumes he's not alone and relocate to take second shot as hes exposed already.If a second shooter would try to shoot ,he knows its not the same one... ***SPOILER END8***Overall, if you want to watch an accurate and sneak peak of how quickly things can go wrong and the sacrifices some makes everyday. Watch this movie with an eye of culture , not pure entertainment void to fill and you might see things differently. I say again , it is a tribute and borderline documentary.