'You are never out of the fight'

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2014)

Director/writer Peter Berg has translated Marcus Luttrell's and Patrick Robinson's fact based book into a film that is as spot on accurate as far as the training and extraordinary skills of the Navy Seals. The casting is excellent, the degree of uncomfortable banter is balanced well with the sheer terror of a covert op in a way that few directors and actors have been able to accomplish. This is a bloody, crude, harsh film to watch but the audience must be ready to accept that this is the way things were and remain in the multiple wars in the Middle East. And for what? The film begs the question. It is a story of survival and profound comradeship and it jolts us in just the right way.
The film opens with a training camp for Navy SEALS, a fine way to set the tone for the story. The time is 2005, the place Afghanistan. Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg and his team – Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matt 'Axe' Axelson (Ben Foster) set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami After running into mountain herders and capturing them, they were left with no choice but to follow their rules of engagement or be imprisoned. Now Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare. Cut off from back support team (Eric Bana, Alexander Ludwig, Rich Ting, Jerry Ferrara, Scott Elrod, etc) the four struggle to survive against insurmountable odds. But is many ways the acidic cruelty of war is somewhat offset by the compassionate benevolence (Pashtunwali) by a group of Afghans who offer the lone survivor Luttrell succor and safety. Food for thought after the battle of the film is over.