Brotherhood of warriors, the Hollywood version,

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2016)

Enjoyed this one a lot, intense, action filled story of bravery, heroism and survival. I also immediately disregarded the book it was based on and watched it purely as Hollywood entertainment. On that note its a good war movie. The action never lets up and I enjoyed all the actors involved (Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirshe, Taylor Kitsch, Eric Bana) they're believable as soldiers.
The opening of this is powerful, showing our "lone survivor" battered and bloody getting some serious medical attention aboard a helicopter, his heart stops... and then the images switch to real footage of potential SEALs during Hell week, ignoring pain and pushing through at all costs. I suppose this is meant to show how our four men can later fall down a mountain (twice) get shot multiple times, break several bones and still carry on. Although it could also be a nod to Marcus who dedicates a large part of his book to explaining the training SEALS go through. I highly recommend reading his book, its excellent.
The story is based on Navy Seal, Marcus Luttrell's bestseller following himself and three others on a covert mission into the Afghan Mountains to locate a Taliban leader. The mission is "cursed" from the onset, with poor communications and a run in with goat herders that sees the men ambushed, badly outnumbered and fighting for their lives before receiving help from several local villagers.
Its a good movie if a bit too a bit too much ra-ra flag waving propaganda at times. I did like how we briefly got to know the back story of these guys before the sh!t hits the fan.
From the cast Ben Foster stands out as he always seems to,Wahlberg does a good job as Marcus, I got Emile and Taylor confused most of the time as they looked very similar. Shout out to the make up team who did a great job here with the changing bruises, scratches, swelling shut eyes, missing fingers, bones sticking out of leg etc. It all looked very realistic. 4/13/16