The Patrol (2014)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

As I just said on Allo Ciné French website a few minutes ago, when you choose to watch a war movie, you also have to choose between realism and spectacular pop corn entertainment. Both don't fit together. Because realism - reality connection - may be more boring, more atrocious and more crazy and unbelievable than the usual large audiences movies schemes, with the good guys vs the bad guys, the love story and the "they remained happy ever after " crap. Here in this film, you have nothing of this. The soldiers who fight in Afghanistan are not TRANSFORMERS or RAMBO characters every day. Please, watch this film as a documentary like movie, so close to reality that it will deceive many silly viewers who expected a Michael Bay like flick with one hundred million dollars budget. The main problem with film critics, is that the people confound objectivity with subjectivity. Because if a movie doesn't square with the idea they had of this feature before seeing it, if that doesn't fit, they will say the film is a crap. And this jeopardizes the idea that the film may have on large potential audiences who read those prick critics as if it was the Bible. So, yes, that's a very good movie, so far it's the first picture from the director, an ex soldier himself, with a tiny budget and unknown actors.

i found this movie to be slightly bit eclectic, and slow. i like that in some ways, but it lacks excitement in my opinion. i am glad i watched it, but found it to be nothing like the "hurt locker" like everyone keeps saying. maybe because i am not English i am missing a sort of understanding from a British perspective. it doesn't hold the same entertainment value i find on British television. definitely worth watching, though you might fall asleep. the acting is good, and the theme consistent. i didn't understand some of the British slang words, but my imagination filled in the blanks. if you like military history, or military film, you will enjoy this film. it's a fancy documentary type film, with a lot of camera movement, but does a good job not to make you dizzy like some films do with all the jumpy cameras moving around.

Given this is a low-budget film, I wasn't expecting much. Perhaps it was going to have something to say about the war in the Middle East, about politics, interpersonal relationships, maybe even an action scene, but it really doesn't do any of that for me. Even with this initially low expectation, I was still disappointed.During a patrol we follow an incredibly unprofessional main character who complains persistently about anything/everything and is constantly putting everyone else down (just a terrible personality to have in a team; paranoid, easily stressed, quick to anger and takes it out on everyone else). I'm not entirely sure, but I think that through this character's annoyance at everything, there were some brief attempts to raise the question about whether soldiers are adequately equipped, or whether they were doing any good by being out there. The movie then ends, leaving me somewhat regretful. I don't mean to be that harsh on a low-budget film, but this really is one that I wouldn't recommend.

The Patrol is one of the most realistic war films ever made. It's about a small team of British soldiers with "a job to do" in Afghanistan. The only problem is, like the war itself, the job (Operation Icarus) makes no sense. They are sent in to protect a small, all but abandoned village for the "Afghan National Army" (that is nowhere to be found), with obsolete weapons and faulty equipment. What starts out as a three day mission gets extended day in and day out until the soldier's moral becomes at an all time low because they know "this isn't their war" to begin with. They have no stake in it. There is no purpose to it because they know when they leave the Taliban will simply move right back into the town. They are there for one reason and one reason only, because someone somewhere gave them the order to be there despite all logic. The combat scenes are very realistic in that they aren't glamorized but depicted as they happen, just sporadic fighting during which they kill people for no reason whatsoever and they get killed for no reason whatsoever. I can see how this film upsets those who want to cling to the notion that being a soldier and following orders is somehow heroic, but when the war makes no sense and you are asked to die for no logical reason whatsoever, what else can one do but begin to disobey orders. Standing down from an unjust war is the only patriotic thing to do. Everyone should see this film. It is truly realistic and truly a gem.