Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden

In the midst of awards season, director Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty is getting all sorts of Oscar buzz from Best Picture to Jessica Chastain for Best Actress. It's a movie I liked but didn't love, but I can appreciate the quality from beginning to end. The story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden is a massive undertaking which 'Thirty' does well at tackling. How about a smaller budget straight-to-DVD version of the same story? Uh-oh, this could be bad, but here we go with 2012's Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden.

As the years pass since the 9/11 attacks, the CIA, including an agent named Vivian (Kathleen Robertson), continue to search for clues that will ultimately lead to terrorist Osam Bin Laden. When a promising clue leads to a fortress-like compound in Pakistan, two field agents (apparently unlisted/uncredited in the cast listing) set up surveillance on the compound in hopes of figuring out for sure if bin Laden is in there. As the clues comes together, Seal Team 6, including young team leader, Stunner (Cam Gigandet), and veteran right-hand man, Cherry (Anson Mount), prepare to lead a raid to take out bin Laden should the clues and identity come together as planned.

Originally shown on National Geographic TV (I didn't know that channel existed) just a few days before the November 2012 election, 'Raid' is impossible to view without thinking of Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty. It tells the same, exact story, right down to the division of the story among a handful of different stories. Where 'Zero' uses Chastain's Maya as a link to all the stories, 'Raid' has no real unifying hook other than the ultimate goal of hunting down bin Laden. It has a docu-drama feel to the too-short 91 minute movie, utilizing stock footage of the war in Afghanistan with election footage, some President Obama soundbites, quick editing of C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, and general B-roll.

Don't be confused though. While the title says this is a movie about Seal Team 6 and its raid for bin Laden, it's not exclusively that story. It certainly devotes more time to the team than 'Zero' did, but it's not just their story. The actual Team 6 story is pretty standard men-on-a-mission focus. Along with Gigandet's Stunner and Mount's Cherry, we're introduced to Mule (rapper Xzibit), Trench (Freddy Rodriguez), and Sauce (Kenneth Miller), and Lieutenant Commander (Robert Knepper). It's pretty typical stuff. The group bickers, fights, argues, makes fun of each other. The rivalry dynamic between Stunner and Cherry is hackneyed at best and feels like something you will have seen in countless other movies. The weird part? Beyond the rivalry thing, the men on a men angle, the specialists working together works surprisingly well. Kudos to first-time screenwriter Kendall Lampkin for getting that element correct.

Some scenes among the team stood out in a positive sense for me. An early mission in the desert is well-choreographed and full of tension with a surprising capper. The raid itself in the finale is nothing spectacular (especially having seen Zero Dark Thirty where that scene is perfection). Instead, it's the moments that are more personal that work. Mule and Trench talking about the mission near an airfield and how they ended up as Seals is well-written and well-acted. It's the definition of cliched, but a scene where the Seals video-message with their families right before the mission is authentic and emotional in in its simplicity. Anything new in that formula? Nope, but when the story has a finale that EVERYONE knows where it's going, there has to be something along the route to keep you interested.

Of the three storylines, the weakest is the C.I.A. angle. Robertson's Vivian -- quite the looker -- wears huge-rimmed glasses a 1960s librarian wouldn't have worn, apparently to dull down her looks (I guess?). She's joined by the always reliable William Fichtner as Mr. Guidry, a C.I.A. supervisor, and Eddie Kaye Thomas as a fellow agent with a different stance on the bin Laden hunt. These are the scenes that have the pseudo-documentary feel to them, and not for the better as they lack any real sense or urgency or energy. While I can't find their names listed in the cast, the third storyline of the two agents on the ground in Pakistan near the compound is more compelling -- by far -- than the C.I.A. angle.

I'll be giving this TV-movie the same rating as I did Zero Dark Thirty, but I'm not saying they're equally good or even on the same page. Many reviewers criticized the left-wing angle this movie takes, its lack of military accuracy on a ridiculously minute angle, or any number of other things. The moral of the story is what I go into every movie with. Did I like it? Even a little? Yes, I enjoyed this one throughout. Regardless of your thoughts, it would make an interesting companion piece to watch with Bigelow's Zero Darky Thirty.

Seal Team 6: The Raid on Osama bin Laden (2012): ***/****

Can't Hardly Wait

With movies like Ferris Bueller, 16 Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club, director John Hughes opened the door for a new wave of comedies in the 1980s, a new sub-genre that is still alive and kicking 30 years later; the teenage comedy (now adjusted to the teen sex comedy). New variations and developments keep on changing the teen comedy, but one of the best is 1998's Can't Hardly Wait, almost a tribute to Hughes' films.

It's graduation day at Huntington High School. With summer and college ahead of all the graduates, the senior class has one more party together, an epic house party with ample amounts of booze. With one last shot to accomplish what they want, many grads go into the party with an objective. Smart everyman Preston (Ethan Embry) wants to profess his love for Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt), the school's hottest girl and recently dumped by star athlete Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli). A class nerd, William (Charlie Korsmo) hopes to humiliate Mike for years of torture and abuse while Kenny (Seth Green) simply wants to get some action. All sorts of hijinks and shenanigans are on the docket, and no one is immune from some trouble.

A formula for a successful teen-high school-epic party movie is simple; is it real? Is it even remotely similar to what high school is actually like? 'Wait' passes with flying colors. Sure, some things are exaggerated a titch here and there (gotta get those laughs), but directors/screenwriters Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan get it right. For most of us, high school was an extremely awkward, uncomfortable time. So when I say a successful teen comedy is 'real,' that's what I mean. Much of the laughs come from the natural awkwardness resulting from 17 and 18-year old teenagers trying to figure out who they are. Throw in a late 1990s soundtrack -- hello Smash Mouth!!!! -- with an interesting camera technique, and you've got a winner!

Stereotypes and cliches are based in the truth, right? Right??? The answer is 'Yes' if you were confused. 'Wait' runs with that thought, following a handful of characters that every high school has. Embry does a good job as Preston, the normal kid who is shooting for the stars with his crush, the hottest girl in school, Love Hewitt an ideal choice for the part. Facinelli is perfectly cast as Mike, the jock and coolest guy in school who can't wait to get to college and keep on partying. Wise choice in the script, Mike is humanized late -- however briefly -- before resorting back to his usual jock antics in the finale. Another key character is Lauren Ambrose's Denise, Preston's friend who is the necessary cute but antisocial girl who resents just about everything and everyone at school.

As good as all those parts/characters are, two parts stand out from the rest, Green as Kenny and Korsmo as William. Their characters? Green as the white guy trying for all he's worth to be a black guy, and Korsmo as the nerd who becomes a class hero at the party. Both parts are movie-stealers, both memorable in their own way. A rising star, Green hams it up like nobody's business as Kenny, a normal kid growing up who decides he wants to be a black guy. He treads that fine line between funny and offensive, but because he's so epically over the top in his mannerisms, it works perfectly. In his last role before leaving acting, Korsmo is a scream. His William so desperately wants revenge, but then he starts drinking.....and becomes popular, the life of the party. His two fellow nerds -- Joel Michaely and Jay Paulson -- have some very funny moments too as they wait too unleash William's plan.

Beyond those main characters, 'Wait' is noteworthy for its supporting cast from key parts to bit parts that only make an appearance or two. Jenna Elfman plays the Angel, a dancer, not a stripper, who Preston meets during his night travels. Jerry O'Connell is Trip, the former high school star returned in all his "glory." Melissa Joan Hart plays Yearbook Girl, the senior who wants every senior in school to sign her yearbook. Breckin Meyer and Donald Faison play bickering members of the party band. Not enough? Look out for Freddy Rodriguez, Erik Palladino, Jaime Pressly, Chris Owen (Sherminator from American Pie), Jason Segel, Selma Blair, Clea DuVall, Eric Balfour and even Hollywood veteran Reni Santoni.    

So with all those characters, how does the movie do them all justice in a movie that's just 101 minutes? With a few quick departures, the entire story is contained at the house party. Episodic doesn't begin to describe the storytelling technique. Some dissenters complain about the frenetic pacing that jumps around like a story on steroids. For me, it worked really well. It never focuses on one character for too long, keeping tabs on all the characters and storylines as the party develops. They criss-cross and interact, one character and story affecting each other.

It's a gem of a movie. It's got a style that never tries too hard but does enough to set itself apart from the pack. Character title cards introduce all the main players, giving us an idea in an instant who these people are. The cards are black and white, like a mug shot, and it works well. It's the type of comedic movie where all the characters get a wrap-up comment, a couple sentences appearing on-screen telling us where everyone ends up. Almost a tribute to the 1980s John Hughes comedies, 'Wait' is a gem on its own. Definitely check it out.

Can't Hardly Wait (1998): ***/****