Misses bull's-eye more than it hits

In Special Forces, a title released last year in Europe, a French journalist falls into a Taliban trap, leading her government to dispatch an elite commando unit to her rescue.

The journalist, Elsa, played by German actress Diane Kruger, makes the mistake of becoming too involved with a subject in her article — a young girl sold as a concubine to notorious Taliban warlord, Zaief, (played by Israeli actor Rez Degan). For her troubles, she is captured and based on Zaief’s brooding, melancholy complexion, is due to face some grim days ahead.

Enter the six-man French Marine Commandos, led by Kovax (Djimon Hounsou), an actor whose considerable talents are wasted in leading his cinematic team through farcical firefights, all choreographed without a hint of military stratagem.

This is a film in a hurry. There is little time for character development, yet Elsa and one of the commandos turn romantic. Combat sequences continue in a crescendo, but none of them carry weight. War may be hell. Here it’s only a little stale.

Film-makers have also taken the drastic step of replacing Hounsou’s voice with a more fluent English speaker. Perhaps they were afraid that Hounsou’s distinct, western African accent didn’t quite fit the frame of a grandiose French military adventure.

The argument wouldn’t be too far off the mark. Special Forces is largely meant for Western European audiences. As a recruitment tool for the French army, it is indispensable. As a mainstream film it is flat and overrun by cliches.  

   
Tactics and military methods of operation are discarded for a Rambo-esque shoot ’em up, via the video game, Call of Duty. But there is some noteworthy acting. Raphael Personnaz plays the team’s handsome and idealistic young sniper, always ready to endure harm for comrades and country.

But a virtuoso performance by Hounsou and Kruger at the end of the film truly gives the movie a boost. These last 10 minutes uproot nearly 99 minutes of preceding drivel. They also offer a glimpse of what the film might have been had its producers made the right decisions with the script.

One view of the film may be needed. Just wait for it to come on television.