Review of Act of Valor (2012) by Maksim B — 20 Jul 2012

Act of Valor could hardly be considered a real movie, as it is meant to be a long advertisement of the US Navy Seals and to help recruiting young volunteers. Still, if considered to be a movie, it has two faces. As an example of an action movie, this one is a straight-forward action drive for lovers of military actions. As a story and content, Act of Valary is way below the satisfactory level with its formulaic plot, very poor acting and excessive amount of pathetic statements and moments.

As a military action, Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh's movie is a pure pleasure, probably the most realistic one since Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. A full-throttle action experience, this movie does not suffer from what most of the Hollywood movies do: the Seals are not actors with the beauty of models, but real-life SEALs who surely bring the realism to a whole new level. When in their "natural" environment, it is really enjoying to watch how the movie develops, how they move. Of course, the single-person video game approach is probably a bit too much for this movie, but all other components of a perfect action are present.

However, the biggest problem of this movie is the fact that it never manages to bring something more than a totally shallow story and not a real acting. The story-telling develops as playing the Counter Strike video game, where the SEALS find themselves at different missions/stages, without much explanation. This, actually, is an expected issue, having in mind that this movie started as a three-minute advertising trailer for recruiting new SEALS. The "video-game" feeling together with the unbearable level of Americanism and pathetic conclusions about the flag, the nation, etc.etc. are the things that could disappoint even those who are mad about military actions. The pathetic emotional moments become hard to chew, when they are "performed" by the real SEALS and not by actors. Those guys are at their best when performing the action scenes and not while trying "to sell" the idea US NAVY SEALS.

Act of Valor is indeed, among the most realistic and impressive military actions in terms of thrills and technical cinematographic excellence. Unfortunately its main aim to make young people join the US army has turned this movie into a cheap propaganda at some moments. This movie would have been such a better delivery if it had only been focused on the action and the adrenaline in the lives of the Navy Seals.