A realistic story of brotherhood and survival.

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2014)

Lone Survivor tells the true story of four Navy SEALs during a failed operation in the mountains of Afghanistan. Lone Survivor is one of the first films about the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many films have depicted aspects of America's involvement in those campaigns, but the cinematic landscape has been almost devoid of any films that actually chronicle true warfare.
In fact, the war film genre has fallen off in the last decade. With that being said, Lone Survivor ranks right up there with anything the genre has to offer in recent decades. Lone Survivor may not be as good as Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan or Letters from Iwo Jima, but it's at least in the discussion.
Mark Wahlberg plays Marcus Luttrell, a senior member of the Navy SEAL unit sent behind enemy lines to observe a village occupied by Taliban forces. The mission is to capture or kill a high ranking Taliban leader.
The mission goes awry when the unit is discovered by local farmers from the village. The soldiers are then left with a decision that could change their lives forever. Do they kill the farmers, one of whom is a younger boy, and live with the fact they murdered innocent civilians? The other risk with that option is the possibility their actions would be discovered by a news media intent on exposing all transgressions by the American military.
The other option is to let the farmers go and take the risk they will go back to their village and inform the Taliban forces that there are American soldiers roaming around the mountains. After much discussion, the decision is made to let the men go. Luttrell and his men decide to fall back for an extract.
Before they know it, Taliban soldiers are attacking from every angle. This is where all hell breaks loose and the soldiers are fighting for their lives against Taliban soldiers that know ever twig and rock in the mountains.
Outmanned and outgunned, the men have no choice but to retreat. The scenes of the retreat are relentless and truly pulse-pounding, hardly giving the audience a chance to come up for air. The SEALs are peppered by enemy fire and take numerous tumbles down rocky cliffs, visuals that elicited actual winces from the audience.
Saving Private Ryan set the benchmark for bringing war to the big screen in such a realistic and raw way, but Lone Survivor takes it to the next level. The sound is amazing and really made you feel like you were next to the SEALs as they fought for their lives. Every bullet cutting though the air and ever shell casing bouncing off the rocky terrain could be heard.
Some of the scenes might be too real for some people. The scenes of the Taliban soldiers being shot are particularly graphic. The impact of each bullet is often seen bursting through the body releasing a spray of red mist. Although it's a lot to take in, it would be a disservice to depict the story in another way. These men lived through these moments and they deserve to have it brought to life as realistically as possible.
The rest of the Lone Survivor cast is made up of great young actors. Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, The Messenger), who seems to be great in everything, plays Matt Axelson. Axelson is the most fiery of the bunch and is the main opposition to the plan to let the farmers go. Taylor Kitsch, who has redeemed himself for the box office bombs of Battleship and John Carter, plays Mike Murphy. Murphy is the level-headed golden boy of the crew and steps in to make the decision for Luttrell to let the Farmers go.
One of my only problems with Lone Survivor is what I would call some of the more overly cinematic elements of the film. One is a cheesy shot of the four men jumping off of a cliff in slow motion. A visual that looked like it would be something on the poster of some second rate war film.
My other problem is with a few of the death scenes. I felt they were too artistic in nature and were borderline disrespectful to the soldiers and their families.
Overall, Lone Survivor is a solid war film about brotherhood and survival. While exiting the theater, the main theme I was left with is that humanity will conquer evil every time.