The perceived ineptitude of the French military (whether accurate or not) is a favorite subject for would-be comedians everywhere, so the prospect of a film about a team of French commandos seems interesting to say the least. While Special Forces struggles to keep a constant tone and doesn’t plot its own course, it does show that the French can bite.
When a journalist, Elsa (Diane Kruger), is abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan, a seasoned team of commandos is tasked with bringing her home. Led by Kovax (Djimon Hounsou), the team of six must go up against impossible odds and a never-ending sea of insurgents led by the ruthless Zaief (Raz Degan) to save Elsa from certain death.
Designed like a trailer for the latest Battlefield or Modern Warfare game, Special Forces opens with images of a military operation accompanied by guitar riffs. Purpose-built for a willing audience it would seem, but the film immediately begins to show its near-fatal problem: inconsistency. Before long, the commando rampage begins to take a backseat to slapstick comedy and exchanges of one-liners, emerging randomly (with the same guitar riffs) whenever some killing is required. When the team liberates Elsa, the genre shifts from a Saving Private Ryan or Tears of the Sun warzone rescue movie to a pursuit/chase film with a number of scenes mirroring those from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Unoriginal, uneven, but fleetingly entertaining thanks to its well-casted leads.
One thing Special Forces does have going for it is its realism. Clichés like those final conversations soldiers have after receiving mortal wounds are kept to a minimum, while deaths are clinical and generally treated as banal occurrences that one would expect of the situation. It’s also a beautifully shot film (half its budget must have been spent on aerial pans) and shows Afghanistan as more than just a country of sand and mud huts (even if it was actually filmed in Tajikistan).
If you’re a war movie buff, you’ve probably already seen Special Forces in some way, shape or form. For the average cinemagoer, however, it does offer just about enough entertainment and involvement to make it worth your while.