Brilliantly depicted horror of modern warfare

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2015)

Wahlberg is a pretty good bet for superior acting and this film doesn't disappoint. He plays the titular lone survivor, no spoiler alert there, and lived to tell the tale and write the book about his horrific experience in the field. Whilst an American production, it wasn't as flag-wavingly red white and blue as I expected and whilst that's always good, we do expect a little understandable bias but I liked how the film pushed hard the fact that not ALL people from that part of the world are bad. The Gulab villagers were incredibly brave and true to their beliefs of hospitality and obviously Marcus Luttrell owes his life to the father and son, who risked their lives for him.
The premise of the film obviously told you the ending, which does diminish some of the anxiety and stress of the action, but there is still a lot of horrific scenes of war and conflict. The action was generally graphic, realistic and powerful but a few bits were too "staged" but knowing that it was a true story overrode any of the minute flaws in the production of the film. Photography and editing were good - the camera always in amongst the action and low level, almost like hand held and therefore emotion watching the film ran high as the viewer was in the centre of what was happening. Certainly not a film for those viewers who don't like blood and gore, but realistic SFX of combat. With my limited knowledge the procedural aspects of the film seemed good (Luttrell was involved in production) and I noted his documentation of the concept that the Generals in war were able to stand back and send their men into untenable situations like pawns on a chess board and they are safe back in the bases behind the lines was commentary on the unfairness of combat on the ground. All the actors in the squad were good at their individual personalities and characters and overall the film was engaging and exciting, if a little emotional. Whilst not necessarily the sort of film you could watch over and over, it is certainly one that would stand repeat viewing.