Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

First review of a movie and I plan to keep it short.This "movie" is pretty dang good! I spend hours searching for good suggestions for movies on IMDb, but everyone has a different favorite genre. If you like this movie then here are another few you'll be sure to enjoy:RESTREPO SEVERE CLEAR KORENGAL ARMADILLO BEASTS OF NO NATIONand some actual movies: Lone Survivor American SNIPER FULL METAL JACKET (crazy movie lol) BLACK HAWK DOWN etc.. I could go on forever but these are some good startersENJOY !

The wars our soldiers have endured in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve the best possible understanding by an informed citizenry. This documentary is about as close to being shot in combat as you will get to see. Take off your political hat and just watch and listen to the bullets fly past. Men are killed in this documentary (though you don't get to see the incident). Men die because they can't be rescued in time. You get to see heart break their friends, sergeants and officers feel at the loss. I also recommend you read/listen to "The Good Soldiers" by David Filkens about our troops in Iraq. If you do all that--then you can really say the words: "Thank you for your service!"

At its core I love what this doccie does: it presents some front line perspectives of American soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. That in itself is impressive and at times harrowing.But then the movie wraps itself in a jacket of awful ideas. The soundtrack feels ripped from every reality show made in the past few years. I almost started to expect a host from something like Fear Factor to show up. The storytelling is also very convoluted. It skims details and personalities, briefly introducing them before running to the next plot point.While it goes out of its way to highlight the sacrifices made by the soldiers, The Hornet's Nest gives little clarity on what is going on half of the time. Other than bring across the intensity of firefights, much more isn't revealed.But my biggest problems are the cheap narrative tricks. At times moments are made more dramatic than they are, especially if it involves one of the journalists potentially getting shot. This is done twice and both times it's more a trick of editing than what actually happened.I'd liken this to Ross Kemp's Afghanistan doccies: intense, but vapid and a little bit exploitative. You don't come out of The Hornet's Nest learning much, other than Americans are great soldiers. If that is the point, this succeeds. But it could have done so much more with its material instead of feeling like a made-for-reality-TV special.

Both are excellent, seat of your pants, documentaries. All men and women under 30 should see this movie and then go complain about how bad they have it. These are real men and women, America's best, and they are over there kicking butts and taking names. They don't fight for some "pie-in-the-sky" idea of America but they fight for each other. They are in a bad situation and trying to make it out all in one piece. So sad that our political leaders never learn from past mistakes and tie our military's hands behinds its back. I'm not real keen on Hollywood and what comes out of it. This is not part of that pathetic industry -- great movie, worth your time AND your money.