User Reviews

The movie starts a bit slow but a lot of recognition, to the end the events brought tears to my eyes. Every veteran has a story to tell, even if it is a very sad one, take the time to listen. For a Dutch movie, no Hollywood budget, it was pretty good, actors did a great job too. Although the movie is based on facts, fiction was added for the screen, I still think it is very realistic story. When a soldier comes home after a mission, the mission at home starts and it effects everyone in the family. Remember that next time you meet a veteran that has served his country, they have seen and been through things no one should see or go through.

It's an inside story on the things the Dutch Special forces did in Afghanistan. And the life of Marco Kroon after his deployment. Included the accusations about drug usage and selling. And the relation with his wife. And what effect the deployment had on his family as a whole. Very well made movie. And good acting. The movie is based on two of the books Marco Kroon wrote. For every ex-military a must see. And also for people who are interested what could happen in Afghanistan or on other military mission around the world. Seen in my local VUE movie theater on the biggest screen available. Go see it!

It is a well written story which is a combination of stories of Dutch Afghanistan veterans and Dutch distinguished special forces major Marco Kroon in particular. At the beginning of the movie it is stated that the story is based on facts as well as fiction and this makes up for a great and thought-provoking watch.

The acting by the lead actors Waldemar Torenstra (Marco Kroon) and Sallie Harmsen (Mirjam van den Hoven) was good and in my opinion very believable.

Major Kroon has been distinguished with the Netherlands' greatest military award "Militaire Willemsorde" but despite this honor he has been pretty controversial. This movie shows mainly the other side of the story that the media doesn't highlight where he and his family go through difficult times which is very understandable considering the circumstances. I did like it that they didn't portray Kroon as the perfect superhero either, but in the end nobody is perfect.

A couple of military details weren't correct, this is a bit annoying for someone with a military background and with a bit more research wouldn't have been necessary. A couple of examples: saluting inside, incorrectly wearing the baret, counting two stars for the captain rank instead of three, a military psychologist working in a bunker of sorts, incorrect procedures while driving and using their personal weapon, the commander of the armed forces working from a big mansion etc. Small details for the average viewer, but important for military personnel all over the world.

These flaws didn't let the story down. A story most importantly about veterans and their family and the experience they go through. I would recommend it!

With relatively low budget, compared to bigger Hollywood productions, it's amazing to see what Roel Reiné pulled off as the movie director.

The storyline is interesting: going from the warzone, to back home with his family, into the court where he was tried (these three locations are the corner stones of this story).

It's a new take for a Dutch movie to have a strong focus on the PTSS diagnosis where main character Marco Kroon has to deal with after returning home from Afghanistan, and how it affects all around him.

The movie gave insight into the live of a veteran and caught my attention for two full hours.

Maybe the the real Marco Kroon may have done things in live that should not have happened but the context of the movie helps to understand more of it. As this was a movie (not a real documentary), it remains unclear as to what really happened and what is pure fiction. For me this was unimportant, I've tried to see the bigger picture here for veterans in general. And I believe the movie enables you to do so.

"Kudos to the Dutch film industry! This film, despite its limited budget, stands out with its thrilling action sequences and stunning, true-to-life visuals. The action scenes are pulse-pounding and expertly choreographed, keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout. The use of practical effects and real locations adds a level of authenticity that's often missing in big-budget blockbusters. It's a testament to the skill of the filmmakers that they've created such a visually impressive and action-packed movie without breaking the bank. If you're a fan of action films, this one is a must-see."

Mixed feelings about his movie, whether you enjoy it depends on your background as it is filled with historic, cultural and military inaccuracies that should have been spotted during production. For a movie claiming to be inspired by real events surrounding the individual Marco Kroon it is a loss that they were not able to accurately represent the recent historic environment which has been extensively documented.

Dutch movies are generally notoriously poorly produced, but there are worse productions than De Vuurlinie.

I must caveat that I am a veteran of ISAF and served in Tarin Kowt and Chora (at the White Compound), and the Baluchi valley around the period presented in the video. I admit that the movie was not made for me, but the faults in the movie are just too extensive to ignore.

For a movie claiming to be about Afghanistan they made some colossal blunders. The bad guys sport the ISIS flag which is absurd as the movie war bits take place in 2006 and IS did not yet have their flag in prominent use yet and IS had no presence in Afghanistan. IS are also the ideological opposites to the Taliban (different Islamic religious streams and the Taliban are hardliners for self-preservation of Afghanistan whereas IS wants world expansion). This goes to the extremes that these groups have been fighting each other (currently in the Korengal valley between the Taliban and the ISK)

Anyone with a superficial interest in regional culture or history can pick out that the Taliban and IS are very different groups. It is insane that the movie went this far into production with a colossal failure like this going unnoticed.

Now onto the production, please take a seat.

There is a lot of high quality historic special forces footage from Dutch patrols in the Uruzgan region which could have been used as reference. The locations in this movie however are mostly brick housing which the region did not have. Additionally, the White Compound in Chora is visualised as being a hangar (the system ceiling made me chuckle) meaning limited effort went into localization as well as these environments are also well documented.

Weaponry was poorly portrayed. 'Marco' carries an ill fitting SERPA pistol holster that is aimed upward and because it does not fit the Glock the trigger is exposed. This is a great way to shoot your buddy in the face, no Commando would ever walk around like this with gun barrels aiming upward and triggers exposed, it is just plain dumb and would be identified by anyone with any military experience.

It looks like the prop master had limited options for weaponry as well, the main machine gun being fired is an MG3 which is a German machine gun that the Netherlands does not use. This is sad because plenty of UK prop shops have area and period correct props such as the FNM240 (we call it the FN MAG) available for rent that could have resolved this. But this is just another example that any degree of (historic) accuracy was not a consideration.

The uniforms look okayish but are incomplete, lacking important details like badges, tactical gear. You also never see a backpack so I guess they are living out of their pockets. It looks like they just gathered what they had. It seems the costume department had a big bag of airsoft accessories as a lot of the portrayed weapons are obviously airsoft replicas and the Taliban can be seen running around in airsoft tactical vests without any attachments to them (did anyone in the production crew ever take a look at a picture of the Taliban?)

The tactics are a laugh as well, walking around with the Night vision monocular looking into street lights. No overwatch positions being taken but just sneaking in on foot into a not previously reconned village. It makes the tactics and fighting look more like a poor episode of the A team than a real war movie. This is sad because the reason Marco was decorated was because of his methodical approach in planning his operations and not having lost a single operator under his command. The movie does not portray this at all, the briefings are laughably short with zero regard to eventualities.

The music is a blatant ripoff from recognizable bits from Hans Zimmer with the ending song being an poor copy of the BlackHawkDown theme song, including the singing. This is hilariously bad, they should have just bought the rights to Zimmer's work instead of this insane copying (which is likely legally questionable as well). Zero points here as well.

Is it really this bad? As I said I don't think I am the intended audience and from a military, cultural and historic perspective it is apparent that very little effort went into making this about TaskForce Viper/66 or Afghanistan. I doubt they had any experts on hand, and neither did they care about experts leading to so many mistakes in every scene portraying Afghanistan. It is obvious they simply did not care to portray Afghanistan, the Taliban or TaskForce Viper in a realistic way.

For the overall story line, this is amusing and better than most Dutch movies (which are generally of a very poor quality and I'd rarely give something a 6 out of 10). I think it will appease to most Dutch viewers as long as they didn't have high expectations or previous knowledge about the ISAF mission of Afghanistan. If you instead want to learn about what it was like in ISAF/OEF there are way better movies out there.

Another saving grace is Pierre Bokma's performance as General van Uhm, this was spot on regarding acting and personality, he had limited scenes but they were the strongest acting in the movie.

If they had spent a little bit more effort in portraying the reason why Marco Kroon was decorated, and using archive footage of Afghanistan as reference this could have many much, much better.

I'd give this more than a ten. At least a twenty.

I do have to provide 600 characters to display my feelings about the character of the main role in this story: Marco.

I can keep it short.

To me it was prevention.

In that sense for me Marco fully earns the medal.

Still, this is possibly not why it was justified by our government to honor Marco.

The honor why he fully earns it - for what it's worth - is at a totally different level.

As such, it's beyond honor, which explains to me the expression by his wife at the start of the movie before the titles: "Het is gewoon een gek feestje" ("It's just a silly party") and little later "Het is maar een medaille hè. Het stelt niet zoveel voor" ("It's just a medal, huh? It poses not so much.").

What do you feel & think? Was it revenge, rebellion or prevention?

Furthermore, I cannot imagine that our Chief of Defense at that time would use such a disparaging tone to Marcos's wife about her husband.

I therefore find it disrespectful that this is depicted this way in the movie and more importantly, completely contradictory to the development of the relationship of this Chief of Defense and Marco.

That will be one of the major fictions in this movie.

So, even a twenty has a negative aspect.

The Fire Line is a new war drama directed by Roel Reine, director of Michiel de Ruyter and Redbad.

After returning from his military service in Afghanistan, Marco Kroon (Waldemar Torenstra) receives the highest award in the Netherlands: the Military Order of William. Yet he struggles with trauma from everything he experienced during the war.

If he is later suspected of criminal activities such as drugs and arms trafficking, he runs the risk of losing his status rewards. Furthermore, his personal life also comes under fire. This also affects his relationship with his girlfriend Mirjam van den Hoven (Sallie Harmsen). Now he must confront his personal traumas again in a court case to prove his innocence.

The film is based on the story of Marco Kroon, who helped the Dutch army in the fight against the Taliban and other terrorist groups. Despite his heroic deeds, he and his lover later ended up in bad news. However, what exactly happened to him has never really been recorded. The dark stories, which he himself describes somewhat vaguely, remain for some an abnormal fantasy, or just lies. Due to a lack of details, the film itself is unable to provide a clear explanation of this. So the real story and this film adaptation continue to miss something, such as clearer details. The rest of the film also comes across as a standard war drama. If you are familiar with such films, this film may remain on the familiar side.

The characters, just like the real people on which they are based, work themselves in the wrong direction. They do this by being unclear or hiding the real truth from each other. Despite the drama that the characters experience, as a viewer you sympathize with them a little less, because as a viewer you never really get a clear answer to what exactly happened. Because of these unclear aspects, the film sometimes has its long-winded moments, or remains difficult to follow. The storytelling is also poorly balanced at times. While Marco Kroon is first accused of drug trafficking, the story tries to suppress these actions by suddenly bringing his traumatic war experiences into greater focus. What really happened to him in Afghanistan cannot be made official due to a lack of witnesses. So at the end of this film you can judge Marco Kroon's own story more for yourself, or just see it as a strong story.

The acting is well done. Waldemar Torenstra comes across believably as a soldier who experienced intense things during his military days and suffered some trauma from this. Because the exact truth is not known, these aspects may remain somewhat unclear. Sallie Harmsen also gives a fitting performance as Marco Kroon's partner. Mirjam van den Hoven also had her secrets. If the real people had been more honest and open with each other and the rest of the world, they could have had a more detailed story at the beginning of this film adaptation.

Director Roel Reiné films the life of war hero and veteran Marco Kroon with De Vuurlinie. Still, Reiné didn't want to make a one-on-one biographical film about Kroon, so he added a lot of fiction to the story where the story about Kroon runs like a common thread through the film. So I'm not going to start with things that aren't right or how protagonist Waldemar Torenstra doesn't look like Marco Kroon, because that was the whole set-up behind this film. What the film actually is is an indictment of how we as Dutch treat our heroes. The Dutch would like to point out their mistakes to people and tell people how to live in our society and those who do not want to adapt to them must of course be tackled considerably. Look at what is happening in the current Netherlands, for example in politics. Our political leaders know how to strongly condemn criticism of other countries and want to be the bravest boy in the class, but in the meantime a society is disrupted to such a way that you should not fall out of tone because then you are the dick.

So it is with Marco Kroon, he has come back from his mission in Afghanistan, where he is traumatized by the terrible things he had to do and experienced. Once in the Netherlands, he receives the highest military award for his exploits, a scene that has not been filmed too strongly. For example, Reiné tries to mix the real images with the cinematic images and you can see that enormously in the difference in camera use, plus the fact that the cinematic pieces feel rather made. After that, Marco wants to pick up life again and work in his wife's pub as a bartender, something that is not really appreciated by military gentlemen of a higher hand. Because what kind of signal do you give if you suddenly go behind the tap as a soldier with a Military-Willems Order award in your pocket. It will cost Marco dearly if he is accused of drug and arms trafficking, without the Public Prosecutor having good evidence of it. The Public Prosecutor is portrayed in a strong way by Angela Schijf, a role in which you really start to hate her. Because as everyone knows, the real Marco Kroon was eventually acquitted of the drug trade, but he was for the possession of a few power surge weapons, of which he delivered three through them.

Reiné indicated that this was a bit of a kind of accusation against the current Dutch society and how we dealt with our heroes and of course there is definitely something to be said for that. Reiné indicated in an interview somewhere that their heroes were treated differently in the United States and that the Netherlands could take an example. That may be partly the case, but Reiné may have forgotten for a moment how the Americans handled their returning Vietnam veterans and how they were also vomited there by American society. So that kite doesn't quite go on, but given the current society, he does have a point and the Fire Line really knows how to put its finger on the sore spot. The film is of everything, a family drama, a court drama, but also a war film and the latter are the strongest parts of the film and is translated to the screen in an almost un-Dutch way. The tactical maneuvers, the horrors in the torn Afghanistan, but also the parts that happened there where the dogs really don't like bread, where Marco eventually falls prey to and knows how to fully explain his post-traumatic syndrome.

The Line of Fire is a very strong film about the life of war hero Marco Kroon with a fictional twist on it. This was done to actually make a film in which all soldiers will recognize themselves and to avoid the parts about incorrect facts or a Waldemar Torenstra who does not look like Kroon at all. Torenstra makes a strong performance and Reiné knows how to show the Dutch viewer that we live in a finger-wise culture and like to point out people to their mistakes, and then tell them how to live. It is of course a gross shame that someone like Marco Kroon was just accused of things he didn't do without proof. The war in Afghanistan are the strongest pieces of the film and is shown on the silver screen in an almost un-Dutch way. For the rest, the film is just very good, with the end of the award ceremony, there is actually little to criticize about the film that manages to emotion and shock by showing a peace mission in such a way that the viewer knows that a peace mission for a soldier is not a holiday, but that he ends up in total madness and a cold war.

"I really don't care what people think of me anymore. Really." These were the words (roughly translated from Dutch) spoken by the real Marco Kroon at the premiere. At the very least an admirable stance, though the film that started its theatrical run right after made it a suspiciously convenient thing to say.

Line of Fire doesn't care much for nuance. Not in the drama, the action, the scenes of war it recreates, but especially in building the character of Marco Kroon. I don't believe stating right at the start that the story being told merges fact and fiction absconds it from presenting Kroon as a nearly unequivocal good guy, dodging a ton of questions that could be raised after a basic Google search by simply leaving out inconvenient facts. It doesn't just make for a dubious moral situation, but also simply makes for a dull lead. Kroon is the most interesting character in this and his depth reflects that of a typical side character (it follows that not a single other person in this entire film has an ounce of personality). This wouldn't be that big of an issue if the film wasn't clearly about him. Not the charges or the war, this is a Kroon story front and centre, and if it's not, some very poor choices were made. It's a tale of two parts which are intercut throughout: the case/trial against Kroon and his time in Afghanistan. None of the war scenes contribute anything to the other side of the story, so you can't help but assume they're there purely to further flesh out Kroon - which they do a terrible job of, but that's beside the point here. What I am concerned with, is how that development is only really achieved in the final ~30 minutes, when a series of events leads to a grueling experience for Kroon. Before that, it's comprised of completely unmotivated action scenes that exist purely for spectacle, so Dutch people can cheer about the fact that they're seeing a picture from our own soil that actually has some decent production value behind it. But all the gunfire and explosions ultimately don't mean or accomplish anything. And it should honestly come as no surprise considering Roel Reiné helmed this project (he has a filmography that is excellently summed up by the posters of his most popular work). Maybe letting the creator of countless B-movie action flicks get his hands on a 'serious' war film was not such a great idea. The tonal whiplash is hilarious: moments of grief, shock and intensity are placed right next to laughable one-liners, POV shots of RPG's and epic synthwave music accompanying the action like you're playing the intro mission of the new Call of Duty - speaking of which, every Arab here is either a faceless soldier to be mercilessly downed with lead or a child rapist. To top it all off, Reiné infuses the whole thing with a sort of half-baked Snyder aesthetic where you get the desaturated colors and overly dramatic lighting (almost every interior scene has overblown light rays beaming through the windows) but none of what makes his work any fun.

The drama side of it doesn't fare any better, in fact, it might be even worse. It's so hilariously undercooked you start to wonder whether the stove was even on. You get superficial characters yelling superficial things at each other and having superficial reactions until two basic courtroom scenes take place and resolve the entire conflict with means that were never established or hinted at. Screwing up a courtroom drama is a sure-fire way to get me pissed and, boy, was I glad the film ended almost right after.

Look, I get it. It's exciting to see a Dutch film with money clearly thrown at it, especially when most of what we get to see is awful romcoms. But that's the point: the bar is so low that clearing it doesn't automatically grant you my approval. I'd like to see this kind of funding and effort go to other projects that try to raise that bar. We desperately need it in our industry.

First of all, I understand that they can't film this in Afghanistan but at least they could recruit real Afghan people or make them speak in Afghan language instead of showing them as Arab people and talking in Arabic. The whole movie looks fake to me because of these many details which were incorrect. The movie could have been much better if they had shown more of the reality instead of just taliban. Military people have bombarded many many innocent citizens in Afghanistan but nothing of that is shown. Disappointed to see the movie I was really excited about initially, because I thought they would for a change show what really happened in that country.

Got bored really quick, begins strong in the few first few minutes. But you find yourself really bored after then 15 minutes. The movie is too predictive. You know what is going to happen next.

Actors aren't that impressive either, they completely fail to bring on story. It's not good acting, most importantly. Doesn't look like acting either. Too much scripted. Should have watched another movie. Neither did i like the visuals, there was blood everywhere, and body parts. If you are not into that stuff watch another movie. Don't waste your money on this movie.

Yes i speak the language the movie it's in, but still didn't like the movie.