Entertainment for the red blooded action loving patriot

Rating: 6/10 (24 March 2014)

Peter Berg got around to realizing a project he's been working on for the last 5 years and for which he now probably had enough time coz after 'Battleship' nobody wanted to hire him anymore one would think. It's well known I guess that Berg is somewhat of a right wing warmonger so this film was right up his alley. Wahlberg and his team of marines are sent out to capture/kill a Bin-laden-like towelhead called Ahmad Shah. They get discovered by a bunch of old geezers with kids and decide not to waste them but to let them go so they can haul-ass back to their Al Qaida buddies who come after our heroes in full force. This gesture of 'christian life sparing' leads to a towelhead shooting gallery where many (brown) lives are wasted. The firefights are pretty well done with very good surround effects as you hear the bullets whizzing past your ears. But there are several scenes which are incredibly (but unintentional) comical. At a certain point they get blown of a hill by an explosion which causes them to fall for 5 minutes very much like the scene from the simpsons where homer keeps hitting rocks on his way down. Later in the film Wahlberg asks for a knife and receives a duck (I'm serious). Don't go looking for insight into the horrors of war with this film. It's all rather superficial and preachy. Also Wahlberg sometimes sounds a bit like a whiny bitch with his high pitched voice when he keeps whaling 'why did you save me?'. It's all supposed to be a patriotic ode to a brotherhood of men defending their country, thumping their chest and letting the Afghan citizens do their part. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Apparently it does for most Americans as it did quite well at the box-office. So (my) conclusion: good entertainment for the red blooded action loving patriot who doesn't want to know why we fight but just want's to know where to shoot and to be a brother amongst men. Oorah!