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Warhorse One

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Watch Warhorse One with a subscription on Peacock, Prime Video, rent on Fandango at Home, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Apple TV.

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William Kaufman

Johnny Strong

Master Chief Richard Mirko

Athena Durner

James Sherrill

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The closing shots of Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" will stir emotions in every serious movie lover. The sky is painted with a deeply red-orange sunset. A lone rider is seen far away on the horizon. The rider approaches and dismounts. He embraces a woman and a man. They all embrace the horse's head. Music swells. This footage, with the rich colors and dramatic framing on what is either a soundstage or intended to look like one, could come directly from a John Ford Western.

It is Spielberg's homage, I believe, to Ford and to a Hollywood tradition of broad, uplifting movies intended for all audiences. The performances and production values throughout the film honor that tradition. "War Horse" is bold, not afraid of sentiment and lets out all the stops in magnificently staged action sequences. Its characters are clearly defined and strongly played by charismatic actors. Its message is a universal one, about the horror of war in which men and animals suffer and die, but for the animals there is no reason: They have cast their lot with men who have betrayed them.

The movie, based on a best-selling novel and a long-running London and New York stage production, begins on a small family farm in the English county of Devon. We meet young Albert Narracott ( Jeremy Irvine ), his usually drunken but not unkind father, Ted ( Peter Mullan ), and his hard-working, loving mother, Rose (Emily Wat­son). Lyons ( David Thewlis ), the landowner, presses them for past-due rent.

There is a horse auction in the village. Ted's eye falls on a handsome horse named Joey, and he determines to outbid Lyons for it, even if it means spending all the rent money. Rose is distraught: He was meant to bring home a plow horse at a low price and has purchased a sleek thoroughbred. But Albert and Joey bond, and Albert trains the horse to accept a collar and plow their stony fields. Then World War I breaks out. Drunk as usual, Ted sells the horse to the Army. Albert vows he will see it again.

Now begins a series of self-contained chapters in Joey's life, as the horse passes from British to German hands, has a respite on a French farm and then finds itself helping to drag a cannon much too big for the team. All of this is embedded in front-line battle footage as realistic as we saw in the landing at Normandy in Spielberg's " Saving Private Ryan ." All wars are hell. Surely few were worse for private soldiers trapped in the muddy, cold, desolation of the trenches. Horses thrown into this satanic chaos were confused, terrified and sometimes driven mad.

Joey meets a series of masters, most of them on both sides men who respected horses. Yet war is no place for sentiment, and as an officer explains with brutal realism, a horse is a weapon and must either be used or destroyed. Surely some of the best footage Spielberg has ever directed involves Joey and other horses running wild outside the trenches, galloping in a panic through barbed wire lines and dragging wire and posts after them as their flesh is cruelly torn. There's one of those scenes of temporary truce when soldiers from both sides meet in No Man's Land to share wire-cutters and set the horses free.

All of this is magnificent. But it reduces the center of the film to a series of set pieces. The narrative thread is supplied by Joey, who is such a helpless protagonist that watching his adventures becomes painful — especially, I suspect, for younger viewers. A famous film by Robert Bresson , " Au Hasard Balthazar ," follows a humble donkey through years of good and bad times, and shows all of the events as implacable chapters in the book of its life. Bresson makes no attempt to elevate the donkey; its lot is the common lot of all dumb animals in a world of arbitrary cruelty.

Spielberg ennobles Joey and provides an ending for the film that is joyous, uplifting, and depends on a surely unbelievable set of coincidences. I suppose it must be that way for us to even bear watching such a story. I am reminded of " Schindler's List ." Six million Jews were exterminated in the World War II, but in focusing on a few hundred who miraculously survived, Spielberg made his story bearable. Among the horses of World War I, it can only be said that Joey's good luck was extraordinary.

The film is made with superb artistry. Spielberg is the master of an awesome canvas. Most people will enjoy it, as I did. But not included in the picture is the level of sheer hopeless tragedy that is everywhere just out frame. It is the same with life, and if you consider the big picture, all of us, men and beasts, have extraordinary good luck.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

War Horse (2011)

Rated PG for intense sequences of war violence

146 minutes

David Thewlis as Lyons

Niels Arestrup as Grandfather

Tom Hiddleston as Capt. Nicholls

Jeremy Irvine as Albert Narracott

Emily Watson as Rose Narracott

Peter Mullan as Ted Narracott

Based on the novel by

• Michael Morpurgo

Directed by

• Steven Spielberg
• Richard Curtis

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Warhorse one, common sense media reviewers.

Budget war movie has violence, death, occasional language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Showing bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Mirko is a skilled soldier who utilizes his traini

Predominantly male cast with underwritten roles fo

Wartime setting. Frequent firefights. Death. Blood

Language used includes "s--t," "ass," "bitch," "f-

Parents need to know that Warhorse One is a predictable wartime drama about a rescue mission set in Afghanistan with plenty of violence and some strong language. The hero is elite Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko (Johnny Strong) who risks his life to save persecuted missionaries after the U.S. withdraws…

Positive Messages

Showing bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Protecting innocent people. Caring for your compatriots. The movie's main conflict is rarely discussed in any detail, though.

Positive Role Models

Mirko is a skilled soldier who utilizes his training to fight for survival and help others. The other characters only really exist to stop or support him.

Diverse Representations

Predominantly male cast with underwritten roles for the few female characters. Afghanistan-set drama shot in the United States. Afghan characters played by non-Afghan actors. Taliban insurgents are given little to do other than trying to kill the film's hero and fall into cultural stereotypes. Some ethnic diversity among supporting cast. More than one language spoken. Male writer and directing team.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Wartime setting. Frequent firefights. Death. Blood from fatal shooting shown on walls. Discussion of ethnic cleansing. Explosions. On-screen deaths. A helicopter is shot down from the sky.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language used includes "s--t," "ass," "bitch," "f----r," "f---ing," "bastard," "f--k," and "scum."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Warhorse One is a predictable wartime drama about a rescue mission set in Afghanistan with plenty of violence and some strong language. The hero is elite Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko ( Johnny Strong ) who risks his life to save persecuted missionaries after the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan. The movie uses formulaic cliches to paint Mirko as a hero. He is a skilled marksman and works tirelessly to defend the lives of the people he's been sent to save, such as defenseless five-year-old Zoe (Athena Durner). The baddies on the other hand are generic terrorists whose motivation is referred to only as "cleansing." The violence is frequent with several shootouts including innocents being shot and killed by semi-automatic rifles and pistols. There are bloody wounds on some of the victims and multiple deaths. The roles of those killed isn't always clear. Swearing is less frequent, but does include variants of "f--k" in high-pressure situations. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

Flagged for Diversity?

What's the story.

WARHORSE ONE follows downed Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko ( Johnny Strong ) as he attempts to rescue a young child (Athena Durner) from the Afghanistan mountains while under attack from Taliban insurgents.

Is It Any Good?

This action drama takes a selective look at the facts surrounding the U.S.'s withdrawal from Afghanistan and uses it as a setup for a repetitive series of cat-and-mouse shootouts. Warhorse One is clearly something of a passion project for writer, co-director, and star Strong. Strong plays Master Chief Richard Mirko, whose mission to extract U.S. missionaries takes a tumble when his team's helicopter is shot out of the sky. He survives this, obviously, and thankfully has enough left in the tank to gun down black-robed baddies who seem to re-spawn like characters in a video game. Which is just as well, because there certainly isn't enough plot to fill the movie's exhausting two-hour runtime. Other cardboard-cutout characters include a five-year-old American innocent -- played by newcomer Durner -- whose missionary parents' idea of a semester abroad is open to question. Amid the fetishized violence and dubious cultural stereotypes, we're also expected believe that the Californian hillside setting is a mountainous range in the Middle East. This really is excessive, and suggests Strong might be better off pitching his next endeavor a little closer to home.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Warhorse One . Did you find it too intense or scary? Was it clear who Mirko was fighting and why? Do some types of media violence have different impact than others?

Discuss the movie's wartime setting. How much do you know about the war in Afghanistan? Did this movie help explain it? How to talk to kids about violence, crime, and war.

Discuss the language used in the movie. Did it seem necessary, or excessive? What did it contribute to the movie?

Talk about Mirko's relationship with Zoe. What did this add to the movie? Was Zoe's character as developed as Mirko's?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 30, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : November 7, 2023
• Cast : Johnny Strong , Athena Durner , Raj Kala
• Directors : William Kaufman , Johnny Strong
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Well Go USA Entertainment
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 120 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence and some language
• Last updated : February 13, 2024

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Movie Review | 'War Horse'

Innocence Is Trampled, but a Bond Endures

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By A.O. Scott

• Dec. 22, 2011

There is no combat in the early scenes of “War Horse,” Steven Spielberg’s sweeping adaptation of the popular stage spectacle , but the film opens with a cinematic assault as audacious and unsparing as the Normandy landing in “Saving Private Ryan.” With widescreen, pastoral vistas dappled in golden sunlight and washed in music (by John Williams) that is somehow both grand and folksy, Mr. Spielberg lays siege to your cynicism, bombarding you with strong and simple appeals to feeling.

You may find yourself resisting this sentimental pageant of early-20th-century rural English life, replete with verdant fields, muddy tweeds and damp turnips, but my strong advice is to surrender. Allow your sped-up, modern, movie-going metabolism, accelerated by a diet of frantic digital confections — including Mr. Spielberg’s just-released “Adventures of Tintin” — to calm down a bit. Suppress your instinctive impatience, quiet the snarky voice in your head and allow yourself to recall, or perhaps to discover, the deep pleasures of sincerity.

If you can fake that, the old Hollywood adage goes, you’ve got it made. But while “War Horse” is, like so many of Mr. Spielberg’s films, a work of supreme artifice, it is also a self-conscious attempt to revive and pay tribute to a glorious tradition of honest, emotionally direct storytelling. Shot the old-fashioned way, on actual film stock (the cinematographer is Mr. Spielberg’s frequent collaborator Janusz Kaminski), the picture has a dark, velvety luster capable of imparting a measure of movie-palace magic to the impersonal cavern of your local multiplex. An Interview With the “War Horse” Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski

The story, in its early chapters, also takes you back to an older — you may well say cornier — style of entertainment. Joey, the fleet-footed, headstrong half-Thoroughbred of the title, is purchased at auction by Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), a proud and grouchy Devon farmer with a tendency to drink too much. His household includes a loving, scolding wife, Rosie (Emily Watson); a cantankerous goose; and a strapping lad named Albert (Jeremy Irvine), who forms an immediate and unbreakable bond with Joey. The teenage boy trains the horse to pull a plow and together they ride through the stunning scenery.

But this pastoral is darkened by memories of war — Ted fought the Boers in South Africa, an experience so terrible he cannot speak of it to his son — and by social divisions. The Narracotts are tenant farmers at the mercy of their landlord (David Thewlis), and if “War Horse” pays tribute to solid British virtues of decency and discipline it also, like a Thomas Hardy novel, exposes the snobbery and economic oppression that are, if anything, even more deeply rooted in that nation’s history.

So it is not entirely a simpler, more innocent world that is swept away by the war but rather a way of life whose contradictions are as emphatically presented as its charms. And what follows, as Joey is taken across the English Channel to the battlefields and trenches of Flanders and France, is a nightmare of cruelty that is not without its own sinister magic. Like most movies with an antiwar message, “War Horse” cannot help but be enthralled by the epic scale and transformative power of military conflict. “The war has taken everything from everyone” — the truth of this reckoning, uttered more than once by characters on screen, is self-evident, but it is complicated by the visceral charge and cathartic relief that an effective war movie gives to its audience.

The extreme violence of the slaughter in World War I is implied rather than graphically depicted. Mr. Spielberg steps back from the bloody, chaotic naturalism of “ Saving Private Ryan ” — this is an animal fable for children, after all, with echoes of “E. T.” and Carroll Ballard’s “ Black Stallion ” — but his ability to infuse action sequences with emotional gravity has hardly diminished.

An early battle scene dramatizes the modernization of warfare with remarkable and haunting efficiency. A British cavalry unit attacks a German encampment, charging through the enemy ranks with swords in what appears to be a clean and devastating rout. But then, at the edge of the field, the German machine guns begin to fire, and the British horses crash into the forest, suddenly riderless and instantly obsolete. Joey, who of course never sought out heroism in the first place, is relegated to a life of brutal labor that seems fated to end in an ignoble death.

He is kept alive by instinct, human kindness and the companionship of a regal black horse named Topthorn. Joey’s episodic journey takes him from British to German hands and back again, with a sojourn on a French farm owned by an elderly jam-maker (Niels Arestrup) and his young granddaughter (Celine Buckens).

Albert, meanwhile, makes his own way to the war, and his and Joey’s parallel experiences — harrowing escapes, the loss of friends, the terror and deprivation brightened by flickers of tenderness or high spirits — give the story texture and momentum, as well as giving Mr. Spielberg an opportunity to show off, once again, his unmatched skill at cross-cutting. (The large cast, mostly British and almost entirely male, acquits itself admirably, with a few moments of maudlin overacting and many more of heartbreaking understatement.)

Mr. Spielberg and the screenwriters, Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, have wisely avoided attempting to reproduce the atmosphere and effects of the stage production, in which Joey and the other horses are portrayed by huge puppets. He prefers to translate the tale, which originates in a novel by Michael Morpurgo, into a fully cinematic idiom. And “War Horse” turns out to have a central Spielbergian theme — perhaps the dominant idea in this director’s body of work — namely the fraught and fascinating relationship between the human and the nonhuman. An Interview With Steven Spielberg

The Imagery of ‘War Horse’

View Slide Show ›

What do they — sharks, horses, aliens, dinosaurs, intelligent machines — mean to us? What are we supposed to do with them? The boundary can be hard to maintain: sometimes, as in “E. T.” and “A. I.,” nonhuman beings are virtually impossible to distinguish from humans; at other times, as in “Amistad” and “Schindler’s List,” self-evidently human beings are denied that status. Sometimes the nonhuman is a threat, at other times a comfort, but it always presents a profound ethical challenge based in a stark existential mystery: Who are we?

Mr. Spielberg’s answers to this question tend to be hopeful, and his taste for happy, or at least redemptive endings is frequently criticized. But his ruthless optimism, while it has helped to make him an enormously successful showman, is also crucial to his identity as an artist, and is more complicated than many of his detractors realize. “War Horse” registers the loss and horror of a gruesomely irrational episode in history, a convulsion that can still seem like an invitation to despair. To refuse that, to choose compassion and consolation, requires a measure of obstinacy, a muscular and brutish willfulness that is also an authentic kind of grace.

“War Horse” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). The violence is intense and upsetting, though not especially gory by present-day standards.

Opens on Sunday nationwide.

Directed by Steven Spielberg; written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo; director of photography, Janusz Kaminski; edited by Michael Kahn; music by John Williams; production design by Rick Carter; costumes by Joanna Johnston; visual-effects supervisor, Ben Morris; produced by Mr. Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy; released by DreamWorks Pictures and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes.

WITH: Emily Watson (Rosie Narracott), David Thewlis (Lyons), Peter Mullan (Ted Narracott), Niels Arestrup (Grandfather), Tom Hiddleston (Captain Nicholls), Jeremy Irvine (Albert Narracott), Benedict Cumberbatch (Major Stewart), Toby Kebbell (Geordie Soldier), Celine Buckens (Emilie), Rainer Bock (Brandt) and Patrick Kennedy (Lieutenant Waverly).

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A young farm boy enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. His hopeful journey takes him out of England and onto the front lines as the war rages on. A young farm boy enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. His hopeful journey takes him out of England and onto the front lines as the war rages on. A young farm boy enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. His hopeful journey takes him out of England and onto the front lines as the war rages on.

• Steven Spielberg
• Richard Curtis
• Michael Morpurgo
• Jeremy Irvine
• Emily Watson
• David Thewlis
• 583 User reviews
• 399 Critic reviews
• 72 Metascore
• 15 wins & 76 nominations total

• Albert Narracott

• Rose Narracott

• Maj. Jamie Stewart

• Ted Narracott

• Grandfather

• Capt. Nicholls

• Geordie Soldier

• Lt. Charlie Waverly

• Andrew Easton

• David Lyons

• German Soldier in No Man's Land
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Director Steven Spielberg stated that the only digital effects used in the movie were three shots that lasted three seconds, and it was done to ensure the safety of the horse involved. Spielberg was quoted as saying, "That's the thing I'm most proud of. Everything you see on screen really happened."
• Goofs Captain Nicholls is shown completely clean-shaven in 1914. In reality, British Army officers were not permitted to shave their upper lips until 1916.

Albert Narracott : We'll be alright Joey. We're the lucky ones, you and me. Lucky since the day I met you.

• Connections Featured in Breakfast: Episode dated 26 October 2011 (2011)
• Soundtracks The Scarlet and the Blue By John Tams and Adrian Sutton

User reviews 583

• littlemartinarocena
• Dec 26, 2011
• How long is War Horse? Powered by Alexa
• Is War Horse based on a book?
• December 25, 2011 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Castle Combe, Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, UK (horse auction)
• Dreamworks Pictures
• Touchstone Pictures
• Reliance Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $66,000,000 (estimated)
• $79,884,879
• Dec 25, 2011
• $177,584,879

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 26 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• Dolby Stereo
• IMAX 6-Track
• Dolby Atmos

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Warhorse One Review: A Disappointingly Inconsistent Journey through Hostile Territory

In Warhorse One , the gripping premise of a gunned-down Navy SEAL Master Chief guiding a child to safety amidst hostile Taliban insurgents and the harsh Afghan wilderness holds immense promise for an emotionally charged and captivating story. However, the directorial duo Johnny Strong and William Kaufman fail to deliver on this potential, resulting in a film that feels massively boring at times, lacking in innovative ideas and suffering from a lack of coherence.

As the lead star of the film, Johnny Strong portrays the role of Master Chief Richard Mirko with commendable skill. He brings a stoic and commanding presence to the character, capturing the essence of a battle-hardened soldier navigating treacherous terrain. Strong’s performance anchors the film and provides a sense of authenticity to the character’s experiences. However, it is in Strong’s capacity as a director that the film begins to falter.

Warhorse One , regrettably, falls short in terms of its directorial execution. Despite the intriguing premise, Strong and Kaufman fail to inject the narrative with many interesting ideas. The film lacks the narrative depth and character development necessary to truly engage the audience on an emotional level. As a result, what should have been a captivating and emotionally invested story ends up feeling like a missed opportunity.

One area where the film does manage to shine is in its sporadic action sequences. Warhorse One delivers some commendable moments of intense combat and tactical maneuvers, showcasing the proficiency and resourcefulness of the protagonist. These sequences serve as glimpses of the film’s potential and highlight its ability to create thrilling moments. However, these instances of excitement are not enough to salvage the overall disjointed tone and pacing that plague the film.

The greatest hindrance to the film’s success lies in its lack of coherence. Warhorse One struggles to find a consistent rhythm, with abrupt shifts in tone and pacing that disrupt the viewing experience. The film oscillates between intense action and slower, contemplative moments without striking a balance that would allow for a seamless narrative flow. This inconsistency hampers the audience’s ability to fully invest in the story, as they are left feeling disconnected from the events unfolding on screen.

Additionally, the film’s pacing issues further exacerbate the sense of detachment. Moments that should have been filled with tension and suspense are instead stretched out, leading to a loss of momentum and an increased likelihood of viewer disengagement. The absence of a well-crafted narrative arc, compounded by the erratic pacing, creates a disjointed viewing experience that detracts from the film’s potential impact.

Warhorse One falls short of its promise, leaving viewers with a disappointing and incoherent film. While Johnny Strong delivers a commendable performance as Master Chief Richard Mirko, his directorial choices fail to capitalize on the intriguing premise. The film’s sporadic action sequences offer glimpses of excitement, but they are not enough to compensate for the lack of narrative depth and character development. Moreover, the inconsistent tone and pacing further undermine the film’s potential impact. Warhorse One , despite its potential, ultimately fails to deliver a coherent and engaging experience.

• Acting - 6.5/10 6.5/10
• Cinematography/Visual Effects - 4/10 4/10
• Plot/Screenplay - 5/10 5/10
• Setting/Theme - 6.5/10 6.5/10
• Watchability - 5/10 5/10
• Rewatchability - 4/10 4/10

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About Caillou Pettis

Caillou Pettis is a professional film critic and journalist as well as the author of While You Sleep, The Inspiring World of Horror: The Movies That Influenced Generations, and co-author of Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters. He has been writing in the entertainment industry for over seven and a half years professionally. Throughout the years, he has written articles for publications including Gold Derby, Exclaim!, CBR, Awards Radar, Awards Watch, Flickering Myth, BRWC, Starburst Magazine, Punch Drunk Critics, Mediaversity Reviews, Vinyl Chapters, Northern Transmissions, and Beats Per Minute.

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'Warhorse One' Is the Latest in the Line of This Year's Afghanistan Withdrawal Movies

On Aug. 30, 2021, then-Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue boarded a C-17 at Kabul Airport, making him the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan. For two weeks, U.S. forces defended the airport after the Taliban captured the Afghan capital.

While U.S. and NATO troops were being evacuated from the country via the airport, thousands of foreign and at-risk Afghan citizens waited to join that evacuation. Hundreds of American citizens and Afghans with U.S. visas were left behind, along with potentially tens of thousands of former translators and their families.

"Warhorse One" takes place after this chaotic withdrawal of Americans and other foreigners. Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko (Johnny Strong, " Black Hawk Down") is isolated inside the country after his helicopter is shot down during a rescue mission. He must reach a rendezvous point while evading hostile forces and protecting a young girl he encountered along the way.

The movie also stars Raj Kala ("Black Adam") and Athena Durner as the young girl. It was picked up for North American and international distribution ahead of the Cannes Film Festival.

"Warhorse One" is the third movie about American rescue missions in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal since the beginning of 2023. "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant," a movie about an Army sergeant (Jake Gyllenhaal) rescuing his Afghan interpreter (Dar Salim, "Game of Thrones"), hit theaters in April.

"Kandahar," starring Gerard Butler, featured an intelligence operative escaping across Afghanistan with his translator (Navid Negahban, "Homeland") after their cover gets blown. It was released in theaters in May.

Almost as soon as the evacuation was completed, Tom Hardy and Channing Tatum signed on to an as-yet untitled film about special operators who go back into Afghanistan alongside Afghan troops to rescue their families.

If the lineup of "Left Behind in Afghanistan" films feels familiar, especially to older audiences, there's a reason for that. As the evacuation of Kabul continued in the summer of 2021, many news outlets (especially foreign ones) were quick to point out the similarities between it and the American evacuation of Saigon in 1975.

Hollywood's slate of films following the end of the Vietnam War were filled with "Left Behind in Vietnam" stories. Only instead of Vietnamese translators, the issue of the day was Vietnam's prisoners of war and missing in action. This led to a stream of films that continued into the 1980s.

"Missing in Action," "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Uncommon Valor" were all action-adventure movies centered around the idea that American POWs had been left behind in North Vietnamese prison camps, and all it would take is a handful of special operators to free them.

As far as Hollywood digging into military themes goes, the issue of rescuing Afghan interpreters and civilians left behind under Taliban rule isn't so bad. There are still 150,000 Afghans with Special Immigrant Visas trying to leave Afghanistan, and the Taliban is only increasing its reprisals against former interpreters. A slate of continuous action movies are a pretty good way to keep the issue alive.

"Warhorse One" is due in theaters on June 30, 2023, and will be available on digital July 4.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at [email protected] . He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on LinkedIn .

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Movie Review: It’s up to Sgt. “Warhorse One” to Get that Little Girl out of Afghanistan

It’s a testament to the enduring power of cinema that even a bad movie can have something in it that gets to you. And most of the time, that something is a performance, a presence or even just a face.

“Warhorse One” is a slow, sentimental slaughterhouse of a thiller, an “extraction” combat film about fetching Americans from Afghanistan as the country fell. It’s overlong and over-edited, laboring over the most inconsequential sequences, never letting a single shot of a commando checking his gear suffice when a dozen cuts will drag that out.

It plays politics with the war, having some Pentagon war hawk bitch about “this administration” pulling out without mentioning that was scheduled by the “last adminstration,” the one that “negotiated” the release of 5,000 of the guys who took over the minute the U.S. was out the door.

But as our title character, “Warhorse One” — played by co-writer/co-director Johnny Strong, a bit player/supporting player in TV and film since the ‘mid-90s — plucks the lone survivor of a massacred family of American missionaries up, we’re faced with the same thing his codenamed character is.

It’s a little girl in mortal peril. Look at that helpless, shocked face. You’ve got to do whatever it takes to save her.

Athena Durner plays Zoe, a child of five who becomes “the objective” in this lumbering, first-person-shooter thriller about a sole surviving “frogman” trying to get this one child chased by scores of glowering, murderous Taliban to a constantly-delayed exfil point.

Neither player has much of a role. The characters aren’t well written and the material doesn’t demand much in the way of performances. But Little Miss Durner gets a lot of pathos and protective empathy out of just a look. Yes, sometimes casting IS everything.

Warhorse One falls out of the plummeting chopper when it’s shot down. But a couple of minutes to collect himself, and maybe 37 edits to show him gearing-up and switching on his coms and “I am on my feet and I am good to go. “

The mission? Track down the missionary family fleeing in their Izuzu Trooper. Sure, but only AFTER he’s disobeyed orders and shot a bunch of the Taliban who shot down his chopper.

Only Zoe survived among the missionaries. Most of the trauma of what she saw — her family murdered in front of her while she cowered — will probably show up as PTSD. She’s more timid than shocked and broken-hearted. She’s leery of the SEAL with the silencer on his rifle.

“Papa says guns never solve problems.”

“Yeah? That’s why I always carry a knife.”

Over the course of a day or two, they are hunted, shot at, snatched and grabbed as they struggle through the wilderness on their way to safety.

She’ll have time to let him see her teddy bear. He’ll have a moment or two to teach her how to throw a knife.

The locations look more like Butch and Sundance’s Sierra Nevada stomping grounds than Afghanistan. The Afghan combat film tropes — “eye in the sky” command center direction, the suicidal fanaticism of their foes, that silenced machine gun fired by the omnipotent SEAL who never runs out of ammo — will be almost too familiar to anybody who’s ever seen one of these films.

And passing through that terrain and checking off those combat-genre-boxes seems to take forever, only partly because of the material’s over-familiarity and the whispered dialogue (more accurate than movies that shows hunted American soldiers shouting).

Any time the editing calls this much attention to itself, you know they’re trying to massage some energy and ugrency into a slow slog of a narrative. It rarely works.

But that kid makes things better, just by giving the jaded warrior hauling her out a mission, just by the implied pathos of her presence. Strong doesn’t really “play” this, but we infer it, no matter how one-dimensional his character and performance are. If he was as good as her, then simple genre pic or not, we might have had something here.

As long as Strong’s been in the business, playing soldiers (“Blackhawk Down,” most famously), you’d think he’d have learned that old W.C. Fields maxim, the one about never working “with children or animals.” Because whatever else they demand on the set, they’re sure to upstage you every time.

Rating: R, graphic violence, some profanity

Cast: Johnny Strong, Athena Durner and Raj Kala

Credits: Scripted and directed by Johnny Strong and William Kaufman. A Well Go USA release.

Running time: 2:05

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Screen Rant

Warhorse one clip offers touching moment of respite in military action-thriller.

Exclusive: Screen Rant presents a touching clip from the military thriller Warhorse One, which marks star Johnny Strong's directorial debut.

Taking place at the twilight of the United States' 20-year war in Afghanistan, Warhorse One is a military epic that depicts what becomes of the American citizens left behind. Screen Rant presents an exclusive clip from the new movie, which gives audiences a good look at its protagonist, before it arrives in select theaters on June 30. Star Johnny Strong ( The Fast and The Furious , Black Hawk Down ) plays Navy SEAL Master Chief Richard Mirko, but he also co-wrote the screenplay and directed the project alongside William Kaufman.

Warhorse One is centered on a civilian rescue attempt in the wake of the 2021 withdrawal of the United States military from Afghanistan. When a SEAL team helicopter is downed, Richard Mirko ends up the sole survivor and must protect his charge, Zoe Walters (played by newcomer Athena Durner), from insurgents and environmental dangers alike. What emerges is a war drama that never loses sight of its humane focus, as seen in the clip below.

Related: 15 Best Military Movies Ranked

More About Warhorse One

Screen Rant 's exclusive clip from Warhorse One highlights the tender bond between Strong's Richard and the traumatized young girl he rescues. While he and his team are searching for enemies in the area, they were redirected upon learning that she and her family were in need of assistance. After he reassures her that the two of them will be alright, she likens him to an angel — though that depiction does not align with how he views himself.

Though there have been many movies made about the war in Afghanistan , Warhorse One takes a personal approach that focuses primarily on Richard and Zoe as they make their way through dangerous territory. The movie also stars Raj Kala (who recently appeared in Black Adam ) and a strong supporting cast, however. Warhorse One is rated R for violence and some language, and it has a runtime of 120 minutes.

Warhorse One is playing in theaters on June 30, followed by an On Demand and digital release on July 4.

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WARHORSE ONE

"sometimes engaging, but flawed".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Soldier tells little girl he doesn’t care what the Taliban fighters pursuing them believe but, if they intentionally hurt innocent people, they’re the “bad guys,” soldier teaches girl to throw a knife, and Taliban fighter deceives American soldier.

More Detail:

Are there enough movies where a grizzled warrior cares for a small child while going Rambo on endless hordes of nameless stock villains? Weren’t LOGAN, THE MANDALORIAN, THE WITCHER, and THE LAST OF US sufficient enough? Not according to writer and star Johnny Strong of the war movie WARHORSE ONE.

Strong plays Master Chief Richard Mirko, a Special Forces operative whose helicopter goes down in Afghanistan as American troops leave the country for good. Evading Taliban fighters and searching for a way out of enemy territory, Mirko finds Zoe, the orphaned child of Christian missionaries killed by the Taliban. Mirko escorts Zoe to safety through some mountainous and forested terrain while single-handedly dispatching dozens of Talban fighters along the way.

WARHORSE ONE is a glorified CALL OF DUTY first-person shooter movie. The hero must fight off dozens, if not scores, of Taliban fighters to protect Zoe and get her to the exfiltration spot where another American helicopter can take them out of the country. The movie is too long, and the many gun battles sometimes become rather repetitious and monotonous. WARHORSE ONE also has some shaky camerawork, sloppy color grading and poor acting. However, the story still manages to conjure a fair amount of suspense, and the relationship between the hero and the little girl is strong.

Also, WARHORSE ONE has a strong moral worldview with some positive Christian references and strong Pro-American elements. The movie stresses heroism, protecting the life of a child and sacrifice.

That said, WARHORSE ONE is marred by some strong foul language, including eight “f” words and very strong war violence with multiple gun battles. Also, in one scene, the hero mentions a Muslim soldier working for the American who sacrificed his own life for the hero’s platoon. The bad guys, however, are all Muslim fanatics.

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‘War Horse’ Movie Review

War Horse ? More like Bore Horse . Director Steven Spielberg may need to continue letting J.J. Abrams make his films ( Super 8 worked out for the best).

I apologize for being so blunt about it, but with a runtime of 2 hours and 26 minutes that feels more like 2 weeks, 26 days, there’s no point in beating around the bush. After being adapted into a Tony Award-winning play in 2007, from Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel of the same name, the adaptations needed to end there. And be forewarned there are a few spoilers ahead (skip to the end if you just want the final word).

Being that this is a Spielberg film, where the protagonist never dies, the story follows a horse from birth to … not-death (told you there would be spoilers). We start with a horse auction where a drunk farmer outbids his landlord to secure the horse and then follow WWI via the road traveled by the horse; first as the beloved friend of the drunk farmer’s son – a teenage boy on the cusp of adulthood, then as the mount for a captain in the British army, then as the pet of a French girl, then as an overly-taxed workhorse for the German army, and finally, after all this, the film comes full circle to a horse auction to determine the final owner of the horse. That sentence was long and very drawn out … just like the movie.

What is probably a very rich book, full of heartwarming stories, ends up a tedious succession of people marveling at the quality of this horse and more than a few instances of this being the smartest equine prior to Mr. Ed. Sadly, there are no talking animals, and I really do mean that sarcasm has been turned off for the rest of this paragraph.

The opening section plays out like some stripped-down version of Babe , complete with a wily goose on the drunk farmer’s property. Then there’s a bit of Saving Private Ryan lite, a section best reserved for friends of Flicka, back to Saving Private Ryan lite, one excellent scene involving the horse caught in barbed wire (and not because the horse is hurt, it’s the one truly excellent scene), then the horse auction, and then mercifully, the end credits – though not until Spielberg has thrown in one of the hammiest endings of 2011, if not this young century.

If you’re particularly fond of horses and have no trace of cynicism, War Horse may be what you’re looking for. Watching such a beautiful animal be abused and hurt, no matter the triumphs throughout, isn’t exactly my idea of good fun, but to each their own. Anyone with a particularly strong aversion to cruelty towards horses will find some scenes tough to watch, but it’s also possible you won’t care if you’re at all like me because you’re so bored by that point that the idea of feeling emotion is alien.

Of course, given Spielberg’s penchant for throwing aliens into films, even when they don’t need to be (*cough* Crystal Skull ), it’s nice to see him not go to that well again.

Although I’m sure there will be plenty of people who find the story inspirational and moving because it’s about a pretty horse overcoming all that’s put in its way, nothing in the film outside of that one particular scene alluded to earlier was noteworthy or memorable (as evidenced by my lack of mentioning who the actors were). Even the John Williams score was innocuous at best and intrusive at worst. Watching War Horse is the last thing I’d do on Christmas Day unless I really need the sleep.

War Horse hits theaters on December 25, 2011 and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence.

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Warhorse One: Where Was the 2023 Movie Filmed?

Written and helmed by Johnny Strong and William Kaufman, ‘ Warhorse One ‘ is an action drama movie that follows the lone surviving Navy SEAL operator, Master Chief Richard Mirko, after his SEAL team helicopter is attacked and downed during a rescue mission in the hostile territory of Afghanistan. With the rest of his team dead, he doesn’t stop searching for the missionaries but instead discovers a traumatized 5-year-old girl.

Now, Richard must evade the deadly attacks from the Taliban insurgents and guide the little girl to safety through the rough and wild terrains. Starring Johnny Strong, Athena Durner, Raj Kala, James Sherrill, Siya Rostami, Michael Sauers, and Todd Jenkins, the action-adventure drama movie unfolds mainly in the wilderness as Richard and the 5-year-old remain on the run as some picturesque locations appear in the backdrop. If you want to know where ‘Warhorse One’ was filmed, we have you covered!

Warhorse One Filming Locations

‘Warhorse One’ was filmed in Texas and Virginia, specifically in Arlington. According to reports, principal photography for the Johnny Strong directorial seemingly commenced in the first half of 2021 and wrapped up in May of the same year. Now, without further ado, let’s traverse all the specific locations where Richard Mirko dodges the deadly attacks from the Taliban insurgents in the action movie! 

A significant portion of ‘Warhorse One’ was lensed in Texas, with the production team primarily utilizing the mountainous regions of the Lone Star State to shoot different scenes against suitable backdrops. Although Texas is home to a wide range of terrains, including coastal swamps, piney woods, rugged hills, rolling plains, desert, and numerous mountains of the Big Bend, you get a glimpse into the mountains and hills of the state for the most part. Some popular mountain ranges in Texas are Beach Mountains, Chinati Mountains, Chisos Mountains, Franklin Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, and more.

Texas is also home to a wide range of animals and insects — 65 species of mammals, 213 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 590 native species of birds. Besides, the state consists of numerous species of wasps, such as Polistes exclamans and Polistes annularis.

Arlington County, Virginia

A few important sequences for ‘Warhorse One’ were taped in Arlington County, situated on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River, right across from Washington D.C. Specifically, the aerial and exterior shots of the Pentagon feature quite a few times throughout the movie. Located at Richmond Highway/Virginia 110 at I-395 in Arlington County, it is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, built during the Second World War on an accelerated schedule. Furthermore, Arlington County has multiple landmarks and attractions that might feature in ‘Warhorse One.’ Some are Arlington National Cemetery, the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, and Memorial Amphitheater.

Read More:  Is Warhorse One Based on a True Story?

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