Special Forces - DVD

Film: While researching the Taliban in Afghanistan, respected journalist Elsa (Diane Kruger) is ambushed and kidnapped. The aim of her tormentors is a public and media-effective execution. To prevent this, a special unit is sent to free Elsa from the hands of the Taliban. The rescue operation actually succeeds, but the squad fails to get to the agreed rendezvous point, where they are to be taken to safety by a military helicopter. And so they have no choice but to flee with Elsa through Pakistani territory from their pursuers, who are armed to the teeth. While Else has a hard time making friends with the methods of the elite soldiers, they have to fight against a merciless landscape and sheer countless other dangers. And this battle soon claims its first victims on the side of the Special Forces...

Special Forces is the feature film debut of director Stephane Rybojad, who has previously gone behind the scenes of French Special Forces for a documentary. The insights he gained in the process ensure that some elements of Special Forces' production feel very realistic and extremely gripping. Anyway, the film can hardly be criticized in terms of craftsmanship. Especially the numerous action sequences are very well realized and provide tension on a high level here and there. Only the constant camera turns, which seem to be borrowed from a manual published by Michael Bay for the most pathos-sweeping camera pans possible, are somewhat disturbing, especially at the beginning.

Real weaknesses can actually only be made out on a dramaturgical level. Here Stéphane Rybojad uses a too simple black and white painting, where neither the good guys (the soldiers) nor the bad guys (the Taliban) have any recognizable facets. The camaraderie within the elite unit also makes use of quite a few rather stale clichés, which prevent the individual characters from getting the depth that would be necessary for the viewer to really get emotionally attached to them. As a result, the dramatic moments in particular lose a lot of their power, which also doesn't help the overall feel of the film.

But aside from that, Special Forces does offer some good entertainment. As an action-adventure, the film can convince with some great visuals, a decent cast and some great staged fight scenes. For those who can do without character depth and a nuanced take on the Middle East conflict, this exciting home movie premiere can definitely be recommended. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Overall, the image of the DVD in terms of detail sharpness could turn out a little better, the coherent color scheme, however, leaves a consistently positive impression. Soiling or image distortions are fortunately sought in vain. In terms of sound, there is a lot of noise in some scenes thanks to some very well-executed surround effects. Good!

Extras: How close sometimes joy and sorrow can lie together, show the extras of the DVD. Joy comes as the making of, which along with two trailers makes up the bonus material, is a very extensive documentary at 87 minutes that shows some very interesting insights into the making of the film, such as a look at the military training of the cast. However, joy quickly turns to sorrow for many interested viewers, as there are no subtitles available for the documentary in French. This is more than annoying for such an exciting making of.

Conclusion: Special Forces is a dramaturgically rather simple, but technically very convincing action thriller, which can score with a good ensemble of actors and some grippingly staged moments of suspense. Technically, the DVD leaves a good impression, in the actually very interesting bonus material, the lack of German subtitles is a negative. Overall: who likes exciting military action without much dramaturgical depth, which can access here confidently

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp