I guess I should admit right up front that this is a movie that many viewers and critics really don’t seem to like.  I’ve read criticisms of its politics, its accuracy (from its uniforms to its action sequences) and, most tellingly, its perspective.  This is a female-driven action film, and while that has become common in recent years thanks to Charlize Theron, Jennifer Garner, Gina Carano, Viola Davis and many others, it seems to me that some people just won’t accept women in physical roles.  That’s stupid.  Either a movie works or it doesn’t, and for me, whatever flaws Dirty Angels has are far outstripped by its raw power and its drive for justice.

Martin Campbell’s film finds a Pakistani girls’ school raided by ISIS, which takes several girls hostage and demands a big ransom for them.  A team of female Army Rangers and assorted friendlies is led by Jake (Eva Green), assigned to infiltrate the hostile area as nurses and rescue as many of the girls as possible.  Jake and her team (Maria Bakalova, Ruby Rose, Jo Jo Gibbs, Emily Bruni, Rona-Lee Shimon, etc.) risk everything they have, plus the men who are working with them, for the sake of the girls unable to protect themselves.

The first twenty minutes or so of this drama is really harsh, with a couple of scenes so upsetting that sensitive viewers may find it too tough to watch.  Its brutality provides the propulsion for the story, for Jake’s determination, for women everywhere to fight for the right to be themselves, and against the Taliban and ISIS, to simply exist.  The film is certainly pointed in a particular direction thematically but anyone who doesn’t accept that women have basic, foundational rights to live in any society is simply not in favor of human rights.

Besides its raw power, the other reason I like and recommend this film is that once it establishes the horror of its setting, the script finds enlightenment and humor in small doses to help leaven its tragedy.  Gradually the other women who first distrust Jake learn to respect and count on her.  They find rapport and rather grim amusement in the situation that they face, very convincingly in my opinion.  Sometimes putting together a female action film feels forced (as The 355 and even Ocean’s 8 did for me), but here it seems natural and believable.  The film benefits from an impressive antagonist you cannot help but hate (George Iskander) and the director’s cinematic sense (he’s a natural at action thrillers, having made Casino Royale two decades ago).  ☆ ☆ ☆.  28 June 2026.