Review of Lone Survivor (2013) by Seraphina R — 29 Oct 2014

Very riveting movie. Based on a true story at that. Mark Wahlberg plays Marcus Luttrel, a Navy SEAL that gets sent to Afghanistan along with three other SEAL buddies to neutralize a Taliban threat. The Taliban had been killing Marines, decapitating them, and the SEALs are sent to positively identify him and take him out. While they are waiting in cover for the opportune moment, suddenly their cover is blown by a small group of goat herders passing through the woods. There is a very heated discussion about what needs to be done now that they are compromised, and they end up letting the group go and falling back into the woods with the hopes of radioing for extraction.

However, one of goat herders goes immediately to the Tailiban and informs them of American presence, which results in the Tailiban army heading into the woods after the SEALs. Will they survive? The movie is extremely well done and keeps you involved in the storyline (not sure why other reviewers mentioned not much of a storyline?!).

The "rawness" of the action scenes are graphic and paints the picture of the horrors of real warfare. You really root for the SEALs to survive and be able to make it out of Afghanistan. Keeps you on the edge of your seat as they fight the Tailiban and continue to fall back, even if it means jumping off of cliffs and injuring themselves in order to survive! Very intense! Great acting by all involved, and the war/action scenes really show a side of warfare that hasn't been seen as prominent in a Hollywood film since Black Hawk Down.

By the tail end of the movie, I was literally exhausted from being so into the mind blowing action scenes. I'd finally sit back on the couch, like just mind blown. Just a snippet of what these SEALs went through is nothing short of amazing. The courageousness and heroic actions they chose to take are heart wrenching. The acting was actually good too, and the scenes with Luttrell and the little boy near the end of the movie were really good. Hits home and hits home hard.

I was very involved in the movie, somehow missing the true story aspect in the beginning, and just thinking what a great movie it was. By the end it reviews the true story, showing photos of men lost and from the actual story. It was like an RPG to the chest because these men went through so much - to comprehend it being a true story was just mind blowing. I really had to choke back tears at the end, mostly because I was eating, and probably exhausted from sitting on the edge of my seat. In all honesty if I hadn't have been eating I would have been bawling lol. And I wasn't suffocating with patriotism go-America type of hype either. If you're debating viewing it, just bite the bullet and do so - thank me later. ;).