I probably made a foolish decision, but there was a choice to be made - either see Lone Survivor, reportedly a good movie, but not one living up to its hype, or see 12 Years a Slave, nominated for umpteen Academy Awards. Figuring Lone Survivor would be nearing the end of its run and 12 Years a Slave might be picking up renewed steam because of the Oscar nods, I chose Survivor.
Lone Survivor is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster. This SEAL team of four is given a solo recon-mission in the hills of Afghanistan that will lead to the eventual kill or capture of a dangerous al Qaeda leader nearby. Their mission is jeopardized when they are stumbled across by Afghan civilians (maybe?), prompting the team to make a quick decision that ultimately leaves them under fire in a terrifying fight.
The more favorable reviews that I had heard going into this movie had compared it to Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, of course - two of the best war movies we've seen in years. It didn't compare to those, nor did I expect them to. I'm not a fan of Peter Berg and the best that I could give him credit for was Hancock, which was fairly lifeless. I admit that it (Hancock) had some fun moments and the action would have excited me if I had seen it as a teenager. Based on Hancock, there was no way I was seeing Battleship. So imagine my complete and utter shock when I saw Lone Survivor. It was well worth the watch.
No, it didn't compare to Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down. I think that was for two reasons: 1) character development and 2) scale. The development between these 'bros' was weak, at best. Aside from the real-life SEAL training montage at the beginning of the movie and a couple of shirtless exercise scenes with the actual actors, there wasn't much to build the audience relationship with the team (I thought they were going to throw in a Top Gun-esque volleyball game... they didn't. phew). You actually traveled with the platoon in Saving Private Ryan - you felt like you were taking the exhausting trek with them. In Black Hawk Down, there were enough breather moments running through the city or back at the barracks to get inside the soldiers' heads. I didn't feel like you had that in Lone Survivor - you went from team briefing to getting your ass handed to you. Sure, you obviously had enough connection to want the heroes to survive and you knew they were a band of brothers, but your main concern was "GET ME THE @#% OUT OF HERE!"
Just typing that gave me a knot in my gut again. Scale - scale worked for and against the movie. I was expecting the kind of vast, epic scale that we've become used to, not just in war movies, but any action movie. You expect something grand. When I heard and read the movie was set in the hills of Afghanistan, I expected (incorrectly) a fire-fight running through valleys and plains and hills and wow! My assumptions were wrong - those Saving Private Ryan-type scenes weren't there and it made me feel like something was missing. Quite frankly, it felt like you could have shot this movie in any recreational state park in the United States. Trees, yup. Rocks, yup. Big deal. Until shit really, really turned bad. That's when the scale absolutely worked.
That's when things got completely claustrophobic. Four guys, completely out-gunned by a hundred other soldiers with automatic weapons and RPGs, with nowhere to go but down, for the most part, in a very big hurry. This wasn't your Schwarzenneger flick - the enemy was trained, shot back, and didn't miss. Our heroes got bruised, broken, shot, maimed... and look at the title, folks - killed. I exclaimed a couple of times. You FELT what they were going through.
Not a bad word to say about the actors. It was a great cast and the real-world training they were put through in preparation for the roles paid off. But because it was a cast that was well-assembled, it makes me wish that the character development had been so much better. Of course, I felt the brotherhood while they were fighting on that mountain... I just wish there had been a little more. And again, aside from a couple plot and relationship jumbles, Berg knocked this one out. Maybe it was the inspiration he drew from the book itself, but this was a very good, powerful movie.
These soldiers do this in real life, people. If you keep that in mind (and I don't think that'll be a problem), you'll be glued.
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