First, while I really like this genre as well as many gritty French policiers movies, Special Forces was a big disappointment. The "elite" team sent in to rescue the journalist was no more competent than a band of Eagle Scouts would have been in that situation. The team parachutes into Pakistan during broad daylight and gently floats to earth interminably circling one another like a gaggle of sport jumpers. An incursion into Pakistan with any chance of success would require a night drop and HALO techniques. Without the use of camouflage sticks to darken their faces, they blithely launch, again, a daylight assault on a heavily guarded compound, of which they have little intelligence. They scoop up their objective, the reporter, and make a run for it, but of course, there was no interdiction personnel assigned to destroy or hinder the Talib reinforcements. Of course things get worse when their sole means of communication is destroyed and they can't contact higher headquarters. The helos assigned to recover them fly in, broad daylight, get chased away by Talib gunfire causing our plucky band to have to high tail it over the Hindu Kush mountains back into Afghanistan. Didn't anyone ever hear of redundant comm systems, and backup extraction points? Apparently not, so with the Talibs in full pursuit they trek onwards. Disregarding any sense of security they blithely walk into a Pakistani village hoping that the locals will be friendly. Of course they are, which results in a playful game of keep away with one of the soldier's hats, much more important than perimeter security, and oops, one of the solders gets sniped. How was he part of the unit anyway as it looked as if he was serving as an ANF assistance instructor when the team arrived in country? Anyway, after clearly exposing themselves by walking on every ridgeline in the country, more soldiers die and the Talib numbers grow. After seemingly evading being overrun by weathering a snowstorm, the half dead survivors are suddenly ambushed by the chasing Talibs who are all fresh as daisies. How did they get there? The amount of ammo expended by our heroes would require a deuce-and-a-half to carry, yet despite sending 10s of thousands of rounds downrange do they happen to carry any grenades or claymores? Nope. Finally, by sheer luck, the reporter is found and she pluckily helps the SAR team find the team survivors, now reduced to two. Most likely they'll receive the Legion d'Honneur medal, but what they really need is a refresher course at basic infantry training school.

This is a very good film. You should watch it.

Just don't take to heart the "lesson" the film is trying to convey. Remember, everyone who dies in this film is because one arrogant journalist thinks she's too special for reality to apply to her. She ignores what everyone tells her about the situation (including the locals on her side), and gets her whole team murdered or taken hostage. And then, because the politicians can't live with videos coming out of one of their female citizens getting tortured or murdered, a bunch of very brave men, some of the best the world has to offer, are sent in to save her. Every one of these deaths is on her head for being irresponsible and reckless, from the driver of her vehicle to the people in the village who give them shelter. Scores of people, all dead because of her. She is not a "brave journalist." She is the villain who sets everything in motion.

SPOILERS: Think about it. She has multiple people in the beginning giving her good advice, from the girl she interviews to her guide Ahmed. They tell her there's nothing she can do about what's going to happen, and that if she tries to intervene she will only put more people in danger. And they are 100% correct. She does not save the girl, she gets her driver murdered, and herself and Ahmed taken hostage. Then, to save her, 6 good men go through hell and 4 of them die. All because of her. And remember her brilliant idea to ask for shelter in that village? Scores of villagers are slaughtered because she went in there without warning them there's a Taliban militia hunting her. That was not just stupid, it was actively evil.

This is a good film with a lot of good, fairly realistic action, great writing, pacing, tension, suspense, etc. They're telling a good tale. Just don't let their little nonsense blurb at the end blind you to reality. I'm not condemning all war journalists, but the one in this film is no hero, she's the villain.