Review of Lone Survivor (2013) by Bruce722 — 12 Jan 2014

Lone Survivor was a decent movie but it failed to deliver on a lot of the emotion from the book, aka the real life events. Forewarning, the rest of this review will contain SPOILERS. I'll go ahead and start with the positives. The acting was phenomenal and the main guys, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, and especially Taylor Kitsch, who I thought stole the movie, really deliver. They are able to establish an incredible rapport and level of camaraderie in a very short time so credit to them for them. The combat scenes, which make up essentially three-quarters of the film, were done excellently as well. Peter Berg really delivered here. The movie was gruesome, bloody, gory, and felt real because of those often subtle but occasionally dramatic sequences. Another thing I loved about the film was the sense that, more than just a movie, it was a dedication to those who lost their lives and have done so for our freedom throughout our history. The 5-minute intro with real-life footage from BUD/S training and hell week started in and then the photo/video montage of the heroes who died in the battle after the film completed it. Bravo again to Berg for that. Lastly, I loved that Marcus Luttrell had a role in the film itself. He is in several scenes and it was very unexpected when he first popped up in a scene.

Now for some of the negatives. They changed so much stuff for the movie, it almost felt like a different battle. Now don't get me wrong, obviously there are things that must be left out when making a movie from a book due to time constraints. However, leaving something out and changing it are two totally different things. One of the changes that bugged me most was them showing Luttrell see the CH-47 Chinook crash. In reality, he didn't find out about that until later on when he was in the village. Another thing that irritated me was how they showed the Taliban invade and shoot up the village that was keeping Luttrell. This was actually the biggest change in the movie because they change the entire meaning and importance of villages like these. In reality, the Taliban attacks the village with threats but never actually raises a gun at it because they know, if they demolish an entire village for not complying with their ways, they will destroy their supply line in the Hindu Kush mountains. This is broken down in detail in the book and is you supplement that with more research you will quickly see that the Taliban would not massacre an entire village that didn't engage them first just because said village is obeying their Pashtunwali culture over the Taliban. If they did that, their supply line would fall apart and this reality was completely lost in the movie. There were several other changes that were minor but there was one last one that I felt is worth mentioning and that is Mike Murphy's death. When reading the book, the most emotional element was the tragic and tormenting way that Murph dies and the movie fails to portray that. Now I will say this, Marcus Luttrell was very involved in the movie and acknowledged that there were changes made because the studio wanted to dramatize things more. I'm sorry but the story is pretty damn dramatic on its own and doesn't need more action or drama.

Regardless, this movie was a decent, not great, film and is a salute to the men who have lost their lives fighting for America. While it could've been better, it was still worthwhile experience and I am curious to know if I would've enjoyed it more if I hadn't already read the book first.