Effective but sits awkwardly in the middle of impacting horror and flag-waving heroism (SPOILERS – although the title did it already)

Rating: Null/10 (8 February 2014)

To get it out of the way – what a terrible title for the film. I am sure that many will know this story but I am equally sure that many more will not, myself included; so to essentially suggest from the moment we buy a ticket that there is a lone survivor is a very strange choice for a title. I am used to trailers giving the ending away, but I can't think of many other titles that do it like this. Anyway, that out of the way not, this film is a dramatization of the failed Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan where four Navy Seals are hunted by a small army as they try to escape – and just in case you don't know the true story, and don't know the title of the film, let me just say that it does not go well.
Assuming that we know how this will go, the film is still pretty effective in what it does and I do think that Berg has done an overall good job of directing but at the same time I get the feeling that he wants to do too many things that don't all sit well together. How you take this film will depend on you and there are really several ways to come at it. On one hand this is a terrible waste of life across the board and it is a story of human suffering and death in a war that is full of it. However on the flipside of that, to think this way is to not "support the troops" and the other way to watch it is to cheer when the Seals valiantly try to hold their position, and remove your cap and let a single tear fall when one of them fails to make it. It is difficult to do both but this is what the film tries to do because we have a sense of flag-waving pride while also the real horror and impact of what we are watching. Which side of the film you feel is the "right" direction is up to you, but for sure having both makes for an awkward pairing.
For me I think the film worked best when it was horrific, when fear and pain was being shared with the viewer and the hopelessness of the reality is allowed to set in. I would have liked to have known the men a bit better to have had more of an emotional connection but for what it was I felt moved and impacted by the action – not excited. At times the action sequences seem to back this up and they are not so much exciting as horrific – I doubt few people would be thrilled by the waste of life as a rescue helicopter loaded with men is downed. However at times the action is quite thrilling and it does seem to be trying to get the home fans on their feet almost. Such moments are capped by the heroic and manly deaths that are often delivered in stylish and respectful ways albeit with the problem that you do feel they should have a superimposed American flag fade into the background of the shot at the same time. This mix of aims never settles down and while it is all still effective as a story, I often felt like I did often wish that Berg would get off the fence and do something a bit more and other things a bit less.
The cast are good and they do what is required of them, albeit this changes. The use of familiar faces helps overcome some of the lack of characterization, because in a way we "know" the men, albeit as faces not people. Wahlberg is an obvious bit of casting and I don't know if he was the best for the job albeit he is a big name and gets it done. Kitsch, Bana, Foster and others are all as good as him and I did appreciate the respect they showed the character but yet their performances didn't hide the fear, the desperation and the ultimate tragedy of what happened.
Lone Survivor is an effective film which tells a tragic story in an engaging way. It is a shame that it flips around from "brutal horror" to "posed heroic death" mode because the two approaches undermine one another whereas to make one the goal would have made a more consistent film (and which is "right" is really down to the individual in this case). Worth seeing for the story and what it does well, but I would have liked it to hit me much harder than it did by simply taking the parts that it did really well and focusing on doing them more often.