Peter Berg, who directed that senseless Battleship last year, is back with a similarly shallow but tighter film. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell, Patrick Robinson, Lone Survivor tells the story of Operation Red Wings where in 2005 a US Navy SEAL team go to a village in Afghanistan to capture Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The operation goes terribly wrong and the four seals are attacked by a number of Taliban fighters.
A lot of the film’s two hour running time is taken up with crashing bullets and tearing flesh. The action sequences are executed with an eye and ear for detail. Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Eric Bana are rendered practically unrecognisable under the grime and blood. The note at the end of the film about the Pathan code of honour, Pashtunwali, where loyalty reigns supreme seemed superfluous as everyone in this part of the world would surely get it.
As long as you do not go into the morally right or wrong and watch the movie just as entertainment, you would be suitably enthralled, if watching men being torn apart is your thing.
LONE SURVIVOR
Genre: War
Director: Peter Berg
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana
Storyline: Four Navy SEALs go to capture the Taliban leader Ahmad Shah
Bottomline: Heavy duty action film
