I went into “12 Strong” (2018) knowing it was “based on a true story” and I have been on this Earth long enough to be highly familiar with the true story of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. I decided I’d view this film as I would a John Wayne World War II movie. That was a smart move, as the film turned out to be a fine John Wayne flick for the 21st century, mixing melodrama and bluster with radar-guided bombs and sniper rifles. And, of course, the Americans always hit what they’re shooting at and (almost) never get hit themselves.
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Were John Hughes still alive, and had he figured out how to make movies starring grownups (stop cultivating the delusion that “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” was a good film), he would have made a movie like “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” (2016). Tina Fey stars as a frustrated journalist who tries her hand as a war correspondent. Afghani hijinks ensue. And people get blown up. And there’s a love interest. And the music comes in at all the right times. And it so patiently, deliberately tells its story, you remember what it was like back when comedies actually had plots. Thanks Tina.
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