Hornet's Nest

2014 • 96 minutes

About this movie

The Hornet's Nest is a groundbreaking and immersive feature film, using unprecedented real footage to tell the story of an elite group of U.S. troops sent on a dangerous mission deep inside one of AfghanistanÍs most hostile valleys. The film culminates with what was planned as a single day strike turning into nine intense days of harrowing combat against an invisible, hostile enemy in the countryÍs complex terrain where no foreign troops have ever dared to go before. Two embedded journalists, a father and son, bravely followed the troops through the fiercest and most blood-soaked battlegrounds of the conflict. What resulted is an intensely raw feature film experience that will give audiences a deeply emotional and authentic view of the heroism at the center of this gripping story.

Ratings and reviews

Pretty typical war porn, with a gratuitous father-son reunion subplot. There is a mawkish sentimentality throughout that I thought the war documentary genre had outgrown a long time ago. The video is crisp and clear, at times but the shooting is mishandled constantly with cameras waving wildly and ragged editing. There is an unpleasant conceit of adding a "whistling bullet" sound following by several seconds of black screen after many shots during combat action, a cheap and sordid way of heightening the tension and hinting at death. There's nothing new here, and the creators shamelessly exploit the true experience of combat fraternity in an attempt to create a patriotic tear-jerker.It's too John Wayne to make t sophisticated viewer comfortable. The American experience of war has passed beyond such a simplistic and self-defeating rendering. As with many Aghan War documentaries, little is done to expound upon the geopolitical background behind the conflict or to examine the motivations of the enemy. If you enjoy vivid combat footage, the cinematic chronicles from the Vietnam War offer much more in terms of raw immediacy and impact and are recommended over efforts such as these.

Out of all the documentaries, this has some of the best footage I've ever seen. Truly gripping, however the men that made this documentary, though brave, spent far too much of the film concentrating on themselves rather than the men and women serving around them. This happened so much that it began to irritate me and I felt the filmmakers were using the war as a means to push their own story and agenda. Still a great film, but I could've done without their annoying input.

You've got to see this movie i would pay $50 for this, these guys are the real deal just the sound of bullets flying right next to their heads kept me on my toes and my heart beating fast I felt like I was in there.