Review of Act of Valor (2012) by Thequietgamer — 02 Oct 2014

With it's action-packed firefights, explosive set-pieces, decent plot, and bland characters, it in a lot of ways feels like Call of Duty: The Movie. It tries to throw some emotion in between the action scenes, but thanks to the poor dialog and the generic, bro-dude meathead characters it fails to do so. At most all these scenes serve the purpose of is some oh so obvious recruitment tactics.

The strength here is definitely in the action. Like I said the movie feels like Call of Duty with it's fast-paced shootouts. The first-person camera angles also help sell this feeling. Really I think that's what they were going for with the way things are set-up. Which again makes it feel like a super painfully obvious attempt at recruitment, but it can still be a lot of fun. The equipment and lingo being used here is enough to show any military fanatic a good time.

The enemies on display here aren't presented as much of a threat though, which helps the film lose the sense of realism it's trying to instill. The bad guys can't aim, so they basically just act as cannon-fodder for these real-life SEAL's. Outside of some predictable wounds/death near the end they make it through every encounter with barely a scratch.

It's an overall entertaining film that will please action junkies, military enthusiasts, or those who respect our nation's troops. It might not be as realistic as it was being touted and suffers from bad characters and dialog, as well as being a clear attempt at recruitment, but it's still an entertaining action movie overall it. It fails to evoke any emotion, but it does manage to create some memorable action. That makes it worth a rental in my book.