Start of 2014 great, with this anti-terrorism hit, and Marky Mark's top shelf performance

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2014)

Mr Wahlberg knows how to make action hits. He's an action star, but more so, can act. He's one of the most misjudged actors I've ever seen. Here, he's at his most dramatic best, thick beard and all, surrounded by other fine performers, the underrated Emilie Hirsh, Taylor Kitcsh, and Australia's own Eric (Chopper) Bana. Here, Wahlberg plays real life, lone survivor, Marcus somebody, part of anti terrorist squad, on a failed mission, due to bad radio connections, but more so a fatal one out of three decision, that soon sees the squad, outnumbered by the Taliban. Outnumbered is a tame word here too. Making the one out of three call, is a tough one too, some of it involving procedure, other parts of it, sparing the safety of the squad. The photography and direction are number one. Some parts of this movie, I warn you are incredibly tense and ugly. Working through story, step by step, in the factual events that occurred, through the real life 2005 incident, the movie comes off as top floor story/filmmaking of this genre. Probably in a couple of ways, it's better than last years, Zero Dark Thirty. I'll be honest, as a quality war film, it's better than I'd thought it'd be. When it opens, I advise you to see it. You'll be pleasantly surprised, but also by it, being directed by Peter Berg who brought that guilty pleasure-blacker than black comedy, Very Bad Things. A great way to start off the movies of 2014, but too The Wolf Of Wall Street, opens the same day here.