Starring Mark Wahlberg and a cast of three other core actors, Lone Survivor is an intense war movie based on the events of the Navy Seal operation “Red Wings” that took place in Afghanistan 2005 in an attempt to take out a dangerous Taliban leader.  The operation is compromised when the underlings of Taliban leader, Shah (Yousuf Asami), discover the four Navy Seals camped out in the hills near the town.  Severely outnumbered and cut off from their base by radio, these Soldiers must fight their way to safety.  The movie is an amazing account of entirely true events seemingly made for the big screen, and an outstanding performance from Wahlberg drives the movie home as a big winner.

Much of  the movie consists of tense firefights between the Navy Seal team and encroaching Taliban forces that take place on a wooded mountain face. There is an edgy period of uncertain silence at the start of the movie that gives way to a series of intense scenes of violent and very realistic battle.  ‘Calm’ scenes last for short periods only, and battle scenes, that usually entail the Seals fleeing down the mountainside from encroaching attackers, are long and action-packed from start to finish.  The “shaky cam” technique and targeting system camera shots are seamlessly integrated into the movie to further bring the action to life.  Staying true to reality, these soldiers go shot for shot with the overwhelming enemy that just keeps coming.  The audience will be watching closely each time a gun is fired, rejoicing when the Seals hit their marks and cringing when they miss.

In this type of movie, seeing the characters in such an intimate way, one expects to become emotionally invested in their welfare as they go through the story, but in this aspect Lone Survivor sadly misses the mark.  The characters are recognizable and likeable, but (except at times in the relationship between Mark Wahlberg – Marcus Luttrell – and Ben Foster – Matthew Axelson) the audience doesn’t get that feeling of brotherly love between soldiers that it feels like it should.  Despite the lack of character development, the movie still does an excellent job with Luttrell, and Wahlberg achieves the level of realism that allows the audience to forget that they are watching a movie and simply focus on the story itself.  Viewers will be in the moment with him, straining their eyes to catch sight of an enemy that might be just behind that tree or peeking over the top of that rock formation.

Despite its sadly sparse attention to the individual soldiers, Lone survivor is an excellent action movie, and one of the best of the year.  4/5