'Lone Survivor' Is A Ball-Breaker of A Film!

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2016)

War is a lot of things, but it's useless to pretend that exciting isn't one of them. From an adrenaline standpoint that might well be the case, but in every other respect, from every other possible viewpoint, it's an inescapable waking nightmare that you'd never wish upon anyone. If that doesn't ring true for you, go see 'Lone Survivor'.
Adapted from a memoir by Marcus Luttrell, it tells the story of a special unit of the U.S army comprising of four SEALs led by Marcus himself, who are sent on a mission to kill a Taliban leader in Afghanistan. The four bunker down in the mountains in search of their target, but when the squad silently moves within sight of the compound where the besieged commander is seen training his men, they realize the mission is going to be far different than anticipated. Soon they find themselves outnumbered, pinned down on a scraggy hill. With phone signals going out in the mountainous terrain, barring them from calling in an exfiltration, a fight for their lives begins. Pursued through inhospitable mountains by several hundred Taliban and cut off from their support, a wretched retreat follows, where the exploits of those four soldiers quite simply defy belief.
Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Taylor Kitsch play the four imperiled SEALs, and from the moment they elect to abort the mission, 'Lone Survivor' becomes a ball-breaker of a film, as you slowly see shock and fear overtake their bodies. Each actor sells the utter terror of the situation and there is a visceral element to the performances as each character is mutilated beyond recognition. They give an incredible amount of emotional weight to the moments where their characters must face their fate, even though the plot is shackled to a definitive outcome.
Director Peter Berg captures the raw intensity of combat and carnage on both sides of the battlefront and the heroics that forge an indelible spirit in combat. Working with a crutch of a title, there is an incredible amount of pressure on Berg to implement the 'how' element of the story and he overcomes the challenge with the precision of the army commandos he's portraying. He takes his time getting to the conflict and the anticipation of the skirmish is extreme because you're expecting the worst and that's exactly what you get. The skirmishes are gut wrenching in their brutality and Berg puts you in tight confines of makeshift foxholes and rifle sights to amplify the claustrophobia of the situation. Shot in furious sweeps and featuring smashing sound design, it is heart stopping watching the soldiers scramble across rocky outcrops and tumble down cliffs with their bones crunching against trees and boulders; the stunt work is astonishing. Berg trips up a little on a few slow motion edits that break the gritty realism but when the unit take stock on their ghastly wounds you're jolted back into the hopelessness of the situation.
This is a war movie at its most confronting; it terrifyingly captures the confusion, brutality, chaos and intensity of combat in a way. It's a suffocating sort of tension - with all its bone-breaking, blood-splattering, white-knuckle skirmish - and whilst there's no question the movie suffers from some clumsy jingoism, the experience is so palpable, you frequently find yourself ducking in your own seat.