Beyond bullets

Rating: 8/10 (17 April 2014)

Movies based on heroism on the battle ground are not an unfamiliar territory for the movie fans. And once in a while a movie comes out which strikes so hard that you realize that somewhere out there some people risk their lives for the betterment of many more sleeping at home. Lone Survivor is indeed a brilliant movie of that kind seeing seldom from Hollywood. And to make it even better it's based on actual events taken place. Lone Survivor is the cinematic adaptation by Peter Berg of the book of same name. The plot is based on a US failed mission Operation Red Wings taken place in Afghanistan. The mission objective was to track a high priority Taliban leader Ahmad Shah and a four member covert operatives team was sent out. The story unveils their mission starting from base camp to a remote village in the Hindu Kush mountain range through a tough terrain on foot. While the team is equipped with latest technology and experienced personal an unexpected incidence pushes them the deviate from the plan. And they find themselves surrounded by enemy insurgents and hope of getting out alive becomes thinner and thinner.
Some call this the best after Black Hawk Down and I pretty much agree with it. But then there is the Special Forces (2012) a French movie that comes very close to this in my opinion but seems many Hollywood critics despise it (Well that's their problem). But what's the best movie is not the fact to highlight here. It's the fact that Lone Survivor is filled with brilliant performances, action sequences and top of all mind blowing amounts of heroism, courage and patriotism.
Lone Survivor has good production quality and direction. Though there are no surprises to the plot or anything never seeing before in a war flick, this runs right through predictable points without sweating much. Relatively there is not enough character building done throughout but the lack of that kind of drama is barely noticed after the guns starts to fire. It is quite right to say that Lone Survivor has one of the best battle sequences that do not include heavy artillery. And it's pretty obvious that many stunt actors have broken bones performing it.
A good war movie is not in terms of how bloody it is but in ways of how successful it is in justifying a war. It seems like Lone Survivor has done a decent job at it while the whole war again terrorism is at a questionable point.