SummaryThis is the story of our most valiant soldiers and Marines, told through the narrative of a father and son, attempting to reconnect under unimaginable circumstances, who are assigned to cover the conflict for one of the United States’ major broadcast networks.
Directed By:David Salzberg, Christian Tureaud
The Hornet's Nest
Metascore
Generally Favorable
61
User score
Generally Favorable
7.0
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
71% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
14% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Jun 5, 2014
80
Tureaud and Salzberg achieve their potent impact through the straightforward (but clearly admiring) observation of men who band together in battle and, in the film’s emotionally stirring final scenes, mourn their fallen comrades.
May 29, 2014
80
The Afghanistan war documentary The Hornet's Nest is a kinetic, immersive experience, particularly in its deeply felt human moments.
May 22, 2014
80
The Hornet's Nest serves as a somewhat effective bonding exercise for father and son. But the best of what it has to offer moves beyond that, and puts us alongside the people fighting a daily battle and, sometimes, heartbreakingly, losing the fight.
May 29, 2014
70
The Hornet’s Nest lets its soldiers do most of the talking. The action — the rapid fire of automatic weapons, the crack of a sniper’s shot, the medevac rescues — is vivid.
Jun 11, 2014
40
The filmmakers don’t bother to dig into the psychology of their subjects, or even get to know them as anything more than symbols.
May 26, 2014
25
It becomes clear pretty quickly that Mike and Carlos Boettcher's insider perspective allows for close to no context beyond what their cameras directly capture.
User score
Generally Favorable
57% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
29% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
14% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Sep 10, 2019
10
Gives the non-combatants out there a peek behind the day-to-day life of combat Soldiers in Afghanistan. Every American should see this film.
Dec 6, 2014
4
Emotionally manipulative, heavy-handed, pro-American war propaganda that gets by solely on the visceral impact of the war scenes. The attempt to shoe-horn in how this is a story about a father and son attempting to 'bond' is an absolute failure; we don't get a genuine focus on these two men when they are shooting footage side-by-side and the son leaves mid-picture. The narrative becomes disjointed, if it already wasn't fairly incoherent. This is not Restrepo, not even Korengal. I feel for our soldiers fighting overseas, but this doc doesn't serve them the way they deserve. Also, the score is so over-the-top, laughably bombastic, almost, that it underplays the real tension that unfolds onscreen. The troops deserve better, and so do audiences for that matter.
Production Company:
- HighRoad Entertainment
- BASE Productions
Release Date:May 23, 2014
Duration:1 h 33 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Real War Real Heroes
Website:
