An underrated war movie

Rating: 7/10 (1 September 2015)

This is an underrated war film by Peter Berg which deserves much more credit. It contains well-done battle sequences and it keeps the viewer hoping for a happy ending even though the outcome is already known.
4 Navy SEALs on a mission to find a high-level Taliban operative find themselves in a desperate gun battle with enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region.
Like Black Hawk Down, this is a movie which puts you in the middle of combat and it immerses you well. It isn't as claustrophobic and tense as Black Hawk Down was but it still does a great job in immersing you. The make-up work is bloody realistic and it shows you how all 4 men slowly become weaker and weaker as the battles they face continue on and on. Black Hawk Down didn't have this feature but I still think that it was more tense. I'll explain why I think that later in this review.
Mark Wahlberg did a great job acting. His performance isn't too impressive at first but after the movie starts to pick up, he gives it all he has and he does an exceptional job in the second half. All of the other actors give great performances as well but Wahlberg is the one who stands out the most considering that he's the main star of the movie.
I mentioned earlier that this movie has a lot of tension (which is does). However, perhaps "Lone Survivor" wasn't exactly the best title they could have come up with. After the other 3 men die, I felt that the movie lost some of its suspense because I knew that Wahlberg wouldn't die and I felt more calm in the battle scenes which came after it. I know that some people already knew the ending since this was based on a true story but I wasn't familiar with the main story and I would've felt more tension if there was a different title.
Even though this movie loses some of its tension near the end, I still think that this is an underrated war movie and it deserves a lot more praise. Some people have argued that it has intensity not seen in a Hollywood war movie ever since Black Hawk Down. I kind of agree with this statement. However, this movie still has well-executed battle scenes which are definitely worthy of a viewing. In my opinion, this is one of the best war movies of the past 15 years.