Hyena Road (2015)

Do NOT Recommend

Cliché after cliché. It's more like a TV movie, corny and silly.

I was expecting something watchable due to the high ratings, but it was a total letdown.

Terrible just terrible

Fmovies: Its a very well built movie with a cool pace. Enjoyed every minute of it. I liked it most, because of its much complex and deeper plot than usually in war movies. Ending was really sad, like last time i think when i saw Bambi lost its mother i guess...OK not that sad, but dramatical at its best (for a war movie anyway) Im placing Hyena Road in top 5 of all iraq/afgan war movies. So if you like Zero Dark Thirty, Hurt Locker, Charlie Wilsons War and Green Zone im sure you'll love that one too. So thanks Canada, this is how you do a war movie, and this is how most of them should be done! PS, when i read all those previous reviews written by canadians, it got me even more emotional. So many many thanks for all the emotions :)

One thing that makes "Hyena Road" excellent is that the film continues a cinematic and literary tradition of the Canadian ability to fight back, of intelligent opposition. In popular literature this goes back as far as Robert Service. In film it goes back to the (serious) Royal Mounties movies and to such Hollywood blockbusters as "The Wild North" (1952) and Stewart Grangers' character of Jules Vincent. Because Canada has become such an appendage to the USA in modern times we forget how outstanding the fighting ability of these people and their institutions can be. I do Not write this as a Canadian, mind you. But as an objective, non-Canadian who was very impressed by the combative intelligence and cross-cultural savvy of "Hyena Road". This is a sleeper. This is a keeper.

Hyena Road fmovies. Can tell a lot of effort went into production, and a sincere effort was made at authenticity...but still comes off as a movie that doesn't take itself very seriously, played by actors who take themselves perhaps too seriously. At times I wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a deliberately tongue-in-cheek drama with the aim of a little awkward comic relief; however, neither one works well as it is neither here nor there. Perhaps soap-opera-ish would be a good descriptor in terms of overall production value, not content per se'.

The combat scenes, while not poorly acted or choreographed, still come off as a little bit staged. Sometimes it's just the little things, like uniforms not being quite dirty enough after soldiers were supposedly rolling around in the mountains for a few hours; sometimes the mountains look a little bit more like the Arizona Rockies than Afghanistan. Sometimes The Afghani villagers look a little bit too clean, well fed, and smooth-skinned to be actual Afghani villagers. The way the Taliban swarm en-masse, hail-mary style is just not how they tend to move tactically in the real world. Like I said, the little things. the sniper scope reticle they give us a peek through is, thankfully, not the usual nonsense with all sorts of colors and numbers and flashing lights, as is seen in some movies. it's not the standard Mil Dot reticle, but at least it's half believable.

Ultimately, on a budget, just so much can really be put into production. overall, not a terrible movie, perhaps as an amateur military historian who's watched more than my fair share of combat helmet cams, I'm a bit more tuned in to the minutiae. So be it...overall, I'd give it a 7 for effort, and a 5 for final product, so at 6 I think is a fair score.

I am still shaking. I found certain parts of these movie truly intense. At one point, I was sitting close to the screen. when a bomb exploded as I was reaching for my drink. For a second I thought the front of the theatre had exploded. For those who think it was boring it is probably because of your age. Not everything in life happens in 30 second sound bites. Sometimes it is necessary to actually pay attention and listen to what is happening in a film to understand it. I am very proud of our troops who are dealing with this situation and at the end I actually had tears in my eyes. I haven't had that reaction to a movie since I saw Dumbo as a kid. If you want to see a true picture of what is happening over there go see this movie. I guarantee it will stay with you for a long long time.

Paul Gross has written an amazing story, using Canada's involvement in the Afghanistan wars, as the vehicle. As a Canadian I couldn't help but be drawn into the events that occurred in the film. I have no doubt that, while the story and characters are fictional, the feelings and actions are real. Gross' ability to intertwine the politics of the Afghanistan people, the requirements of our military contingent, and the costs of war were exceedingly well done. I want to acknowledge the military presence of all the European countries and the United States who were there as well, and I can imagine that similar situations occurred. Paul Gross is Canadian and this film is definitely a Canadian perspective. You have to see this film.