An inspiring story turned into another forgettable Wahlberg action movie

Rating: 6/10 (8 January 2014)

This review is spot on. I have read Luttrell's heartwrenching book of the same title and had the privilege of seeing him speak while at school, and he and his teammates deserved better than this film. Wahlberg, as usual, is distractingly bad. He doesn't even attempt Luttrell's thick southern accent, or ever convince you for a moment he's his character rather than Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg makes bad action movies, and he's good at that. Peter Berg also makes bad action movies. This mix is NOT what this true story deserved. The film never really reels you in, provides no character or plot build up or even makes it really believable, which should have been easy since this was a true story. The actual events were overly dramatized (think all four SEALs jumping off a cliff in slow motion with an explosion behind them. Yes, this happened. Or Foster saying in a sudden lull in fighting, "you can die for your country, I'm going to live for mine" and then of course blows away a bad guy. Bad. Action. Movie. If anyone has read Luttrell's book or even watched an interview where he recounts what happened, one will immediately see the movie did an embarrassing job of staying true to his story, though Berg claimed throughout production this was their priority. The film doesn't even show the most incredible part of the story, Luttrell crawling 7 miles through the Afghan mountains with 7 gunshot wounds and paralyzed below the waist before being found near death by his Afghan protectors. How is this portrayed in the movie? Wahlberg falls down a hill into a pond directly below the fighting and the villagers happen to be standing there, 20 feet from a raging gunfight. Luttrell did actually pull out a grenade to threaten these villagers, having lost his rifle, and refusing to be captured alive by the Taliban. However, leave it to Berg and Wahlberg to make this horrifying and courageous last resort appear as an absolute joke. This true story of sacrifice and amazing bravery deserved more than being another forgettable Wahlberg action movie.