Lone Survivor

Rating: 5/10 (29 September 2017)

I kept seeing the poster and DVD cover for this film various times, and missing it being shown on television, so when I finally got the opportunity to see it, I made sure not to miss out again, directed by Peter Berg (Welcome to the Jungle, Battleship, Deepwater Horizon). Basically set in 2005, a United States Navy SEALs unit is ordered on a mission to capture Taliban leader Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami), who is responsible for killing over twenty United States Marines, as well as villagers and refugees aiding American forces. The four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team includes leader Michael P. "Murph" Murphy (John Carter's Taylor Kitsch), snipers Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) and Matthew 'Axe' Axelson (Hell or High Water's Ben Foster), and communications specialist Danny Dietz (Into the Wild's Emile Hirsch). The team is inserted into the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, they trek through the mountains and experience communication problems, which plays a critical role in the following events. Arriving at their designated location, the SEALs are accidentally discovered by an elderly shepherd and two teenage goat herders, knowing they will likely alert the Taliban to their presence, the team is split about whether to kill the herders or not. After a debate and Luttrell convincing the others that their deaths will incite backlash, the herders are released and the mission is aborted, but before they can escape, the Talibam forces discover them. Although they manage to kill several Taliban soldiers, they are heavily outnumbered and at a significant tactical disadvantage, each of the men are seriously injured during a firefight, to flee from the opposition they jump off the edge of a ridge into a large ravine. The SEALs continue a defensive retreat despite their injuries, Dietz starts losing consciousness and shouts to Luttrell, unwittingly revealing the team's position to the Taliban. Murphy and Axelson jump off another ridge and flee, while Luttrell tries to carry Dietz down the mountain, but Dietz is shot in the shoulder, the impact causes Luttrell to lose his grip and fall off the cliff, the dying Dietz remains at the top and is killed by the Taliban. Murphy tries to climb back up to get a signal to call in support forces on the satellite phone, while satellite phone provide him with cover shooting at the Taliban, when Murphy finally reaches higher ground, he is able to alert the SEAL base of their location and request emergency assistance, before he is shot dead. In response to the distress call, a quick reaction force team assembles, two Chinook helicopters head to the team's location to extract the remaining members of the reconnaissance and surveillance team. One of the helicopters is shot down by the Taliban, killing eight Navy SEALs and eight Special Operations aviators on board, the second helicopter is forced to turn back, Luttrell and a badly injured Axelson witnessed the attack and are left behind. Axelson is killed when he leaves his hiding spot to find cover and attack several approaching insurgents, while Luttrell is discovered by the Taliban, a rocket-propelled grenade is fired, the impact causes him to fall into a rock crevice, he survives and hides from the Taliban fighters. Luttrell finds a small body of water to submerge himself in, when he surfaces he is discovered by local Pashtun villager Mohammad Gulab (Ali Suliman), Gulab takes Luttrell into his care, returning to his village and hiding him in his home. A mountain man is sent by Gulab to the nearest American air base to alert military forces to rescue Luttrell, but Taliban fighters arrive to capture and kill him, only for Gulab and the villagers to intervene, threatening to kill them if they harm Luttrell. The fighters leave, but to return to punish them for protecting Luttrell, Gulab and the others manage to fend them off during an attack, then American forces arrive via helicopters, shattering advancing Taliban, killing several insurgents, Luttrell is evacuated and taken back to base. The end of the film shows photographs of the real-life Marcus Luttrell, Mohammad Gulab and the men who died during the operation, and it reveals the Pashtun villagers helped Luttrell as part of a traditional code of honour known as the Pashtunwali. Also starring Eric Bana as Erik Kristensen and Alexander Ludwig as Shane Patton. Wahlberg gives a good performance as the lone survivor of the title who goes to hell and back on the battlefield, he has good support from Hirsch, Kitsch and Foster, it is pretty simple true-life story of a squad of soldiers on a mission find and kill a top warlord, the mission is compromised and they are forced to fight for their lives, the scenes of the characters bonding is okay, but the most memorable moments are the loud firefights, with bullets flying, blood spurting, bones breaking and much more unpleasant stuff, but the violence is necessary to depict the harsh reality of war, an interesting action thriller based on a true story. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. Worth watching!