Rated R
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylore Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana,
Written and Directed by Peter Berg
The Story:
Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg) and the rest of his SEAL team head into Afghanistan on a secret mission to capture a Taliban leader. When they are discovered by some goat herders, they are faced with the dilemma: spare them or kill/capture them? Following their explicit rules of engagement, they let them go.
Naturally, the team is hunted down and killed until only Luttrell is left.
This is their sad story.
Not only do they lose most of their team, even a rescue attempt goes awry costing more men their lives.
That Luttrell finds safety and salvation in the village is both ironic and heartwarming. The villagers live by the code to protect people from their enemies.
That includes standing up to the Taliban to give Luttrell a chance to survive and mend.
The end credits are a brief and touching tribute to the lives that were lost during this mission, and only begin to scrape the surface of how many have perished during this conflict.
I hate to give movies like this a low grade. They mean well, showing people how horrible war can be, and how great those that serve in the military really are.
But somehow, I just didn't connect with this film or the characters enough to make me care more for their fates.
Or perhaps knowing that everyone aside from Wahlberg is going to bite the dust going in to the movie, all of the suspense is already sucked from the viewer, and so then it's just an exercise in paint-by-numbers.
And that's too bad.
Final Grade: C+/B- range
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Much like Zero Dark Thirty, many of these movies are now a one and done. Well done, but too much for repeated viewings.
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