Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero Reviews

GREAT

There is no agenda to Bravo Two Zero. Instead it seeks to present a soldier's story. And while there is another side to the story - patrol survivor Chris Ryan, who was separated from his comrades and fought his way across Iraq to the Syrian border, and freedom, also wrote an account - this is simply one man's version of events. McNab presents it as he saw it: a botched mission, eight desperate men, a series of bloody firefights and skirmishes, capture and torture and, finally, repatriation.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Check out the interview!

I've read the book, and I think this is a well-made film that sticks quite closely to McNab's original account. There are a few more shoot-outs in the film than in the book, and for about the first half-hour we were wondering if the whole thing might have been changed to a 'baddies-goodies' flash-bang-crash tale, with maybe some kind of tacked-on ending. Luckily, that didn't happen, and the film ends in the same real-life way as the book . One main theme of the story is that the troops were sent into action with faulty and/or missing equipment (does that ring a bell with some recent history?), and that was the main cause of the debacle that then followed.

For me, the film in itself would have been worth four stars. However, I really recommend that you also take in the interview with Andy McNab in the 'Extra' features, which raised the disk to an easy five stars for me. McNab says: 'There are no good guys or bad guys. We were just doing our job as professional soldiers, and they (the Iraqi interrogators) were just doing their job. We weren't fighting for the right, there was no chest-beating or Queen and Country - we were fighting for commercial interests - that's the job we do'.

Wow! With that kind of mind-set, it's no wonder that he and his mates turned out not to need counselling when they got back from their mission. Maybe our friends from across the Atlantic - or our own politicians - could learn something useful from McNab's words? (They won't, of course, because they don't have to do the fighting.)

Fiction speaks louder than Truth

In March 1991, the whole SAS regiment were debriefed by Andy McNab and indeed Chris Ryan. Durring that time they made no mention of all the encounters with enemy troops, that they claimed later. Whilst Chris Ryan's endurance march was a test of survival, Andy McNab broke so many SOP's it's amazing he didn't get them all killed. The film is too low budget to be convincing and too fictional to be taken serious. I prefered 'The One that Got Away' as entertainment.

Fiction speaks louder than Truth

In March 1991, the whole SAS regiment were debriefed by Andy McNab and indeed Chris Ryan. Durring that time they made no mention of all the encounters with enemy troops, that they claimed later. Whilst Chris Ryan's endurance march was a test of survival, Andy McNab broke so many SOP's it's amazing he didn't get them all killed. The film is too low budget to be convincing and too fictional to be taken serious. I prefered 'The One that Got Away' as entertainment.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Check out the interview!

I've read the book, and I think this is a well-made film that sticks quite closely to McNab's original account. There are a few more shoot-outs in the film than in the book, and for about the first half-hour we were wondering if the whole thing might have been changed to a 'baddies-goodies' flash-bang-crash tale, with maybe some kind of tacked-on ending. Luckily, that didn't happen, and the film ends in the same real-life way as the book . One main theme of the story is that the troops were sent into action with faulty and/or missing equipment (does that ring a bell with some recent history?), and that was the main cause of the debacle that then followed.

For me, the film in itself would have been worth four stars. However, I really recommend that you also take in the interview with Andy McNab in the 'Extra' features, which raised the disk to an easy five stars for me. McNab says: 'There are no good guys or bad guys. We were just doing our job as professional soldiers, and they (the Iraqi interrogators) were just doing their job. We weren't fighting for the right, there was no chest-beating or Queen and Country - we were fighting for commercial interests - that's the job we do'.

Wow! With that kind of mind-set, it's no wonder that he and his mates turned out not to need counselling when they got back from their mission. Maybe our friends from across the Atlantic - or our own politicians - could learn something useful from McNab's words? (They won't, of course, because they don't have to do the fighting.)