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Lone Survivor (2013)

Posted By: Efgrapha

Date: 8 Jun 2014 11:33:52

Based on a true story, director Peter Berg's Lone Survivor stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Emile Hirsch as four Navy SEALs whose sensitive mission into the Afghan mountains is unexpectedly compromised, leading to a fierce skirmish with a small army of Taliban soldiers. The year is 2005. In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, the War in Afghanistan is well under way when military intelligence learns that a senior Taliban member is hiding out in a remote village deep in the Hindu Kush mountains of the Kunar Province. Convinced that his capture or killing could turn the tide of the difficult war in favor of the United States, the Navy SEALs hatch Operation Red Wings. The goal is simple – send a select team of soldiers to stake out the village from the surrounding mountains, and move on their target when the time is right. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Michael Murphy (Kitsch), Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg), Matt Axelson (Foster), and Danny Dietz (Hirsch) reach their checkpoint, and quickly realize that another nearby hill will provide a better vantage spot. Shortly after arriving at that new location and getting a positive ID on their target, however, the soldiers are caught off guard by three wandering shepherds, including a young boy. Ultimately, a heated vote over what to do with the captured shepherds leads Lt. Murphy to decide that the best course of action is to abide by the rules of engagement, meaning that the soldiers will abort the mission, release the captives, and retreat to their extraction point. Shortly after the shepherds are set free, however, the four SEALs find themselves surrounded by dozens of Taliban soldiers, and engaged in a fierce gunfight that – with the aid of some truly brave villagers – only one of them will make it out of.

Synopsis by Jason Buchanan, Allmovie.com

Peter Berg's screen version of Marcus Luttrell's book is remarkably good at dramatizing the notorious 2005 Navy SEAL operation that went horrifically bad. The power of this production isn't evident in the preface, a standard-brand account of the rigors of SEAL training. And familiar themes of combat movies make up most of the operation's initial phase—cocky banter, macho preening, talk of wives and girlfriends back home. The first hint of what's to come is someone's casually ominous observation about the complexity of the joint military planning: "A lot of moving parts."

The parts were set in motion for Operation Red Wings, a covert mission intended to kill or capture a Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan. A four-man team of SEALs was ambushed by Taliban fighters, and the book's author, then the team medic, was the lone survivor of a debacle that also took the lives of 16 men aboard a rescue helicopter shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Mr. Luttrell, now retired, is played by Mark Wahlberg; the other team members are played by Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster. All four performances are first-rate, and the action is staged with shattering intensity.

Literally and graphically shattering. The film is a celebration of courage, and the brotherhood of warriors facing unfathomable danger in the service of their country. These, too, are familiar themes, but they take on new meaning in "Lone Survivor." The SEALs aren't just shot at in a merciless firefight. They are shot, time and again. They are almost aerated by Taliban bullets, and they fight on. Their training has turned them into fighting machines, and their equipment employs technologies undreamed of in earlier wars. Yet their high-tech edge is blunted by faulty communications, their support is compromised by limited resources—the film doesn't try to score political points on this score, but questions are implicit in the narrative—and their flesh and blood are anguishingly vulnerable when all the planning comes unraveled. A lot of moving parts in a moving film.

Review by Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

IMDB 7,7/10 from 100 602 users
Wiki

Director: Peter Berg

Writers: Peter Berg, Marcus Luttrell & Patrick Robinson (book)

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Yousuf Azami