A Jingoistic Passion of the Christ

Rating: 3/10 (2 January 2014)

This will be a quick-and-dirty review of the film, setting all personal political views aside. And please keep in mind that criticizing a film portraying real American soldiers in no way means that I am criticizing the real life soldiers who do these types of things for which I have the utmost respect.
As for the movie, the first 30 minutes is a straight military recruitment video, full of prospective SEALS training, running bare- chested in the sand with iconic American drums rolling in the background, and rah-rah speeches of military bravado.
Once the action starts, it turns into a jingoistic Passion of the Christ. The soldiers are used merely as human meat puppets with no subtext to it, like Berg's only point in showing the excess was to convey the amount of damage the body can take.
The most glaring weakness of the film is that there is no depth to any of the main characters, they are basically macho military male cardboard cutouts with no substance to them, which other than the fact that they are Americans leaves an emotional disconnect between the viewer and the emotional response Berg was looking for.
On the most superficial of levels I can see the average moviegoer finding enjoyment in this, especially the battlefield/COD first-person- shooter demographic.