It’s June of 2005, and Seal Team 10 is stationed in Afghanistan. Four Navy Seals are tasked with the mission to capture and kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah in a mission called Operation Red Wings. The mission failed miserably. “Lone Survivor” tells its story.
The film is intense and action-packed. The title, the trailer, and any knowledge of the real events can spoil the plot for you, and yet, the film still manages to be suspenseful. The majority of the middle section is spent in an uncomfortably long and brutal war scene. Depending on your taste, it could feel repetitive or over the top. At times, it does resemble a video game a little too closely. However, the drawn-out nature of the battle scene is the correct choice. It’s not what you want to see, but that’s exactly why it needs to be there. There’s no lack of anguish, and you might be squirming in your seat. The sound effects are so intense that closing your eyes won’t allow for an escape.
It’s almost unbearable, but there’s no other way to tell this story. Although all the advertising seems to portray “Lone Survivor” as Mark Wahlberg’s one–man show, its strength lies in the combination of actors (until the end when Wahlberg is, as the title suggests, the only survivor). Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins of “Friday Night Lights”), and Ben Foster play the other members of Operation Red Wings, and they kind of steal Wahlberg’s spotlight. The chemistry between the foursome is the film’s greatest attribute.
If you don’t like military movies, “Lone Survivor” isn’t for you. The MPAA wasn’t joking around when it gave the film an R for “strong bloody war violence.” That being said, this is better than the average war movie. It has little details that make it so real: a soldier worrying about which bathroom tile his wife wants or a commander naming the operation locations after beer brands. What makes it even more powerful and haunting is remembering it’s all true.
Grade: A-
Rating & Runtime: R, 121 minutes
See if you liked: "Zero Dark Thirty"
