Movie review....Act of Valor
Mar. 11th, 2012 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phynckeI really am not a pro-military person, I have peacenik leanings and tend toward non-violence in my own life but I saw this movie today, Act of Valor. You can tell me that this is a propaganda film, pro-military and and all that but for many reasons this movie held together for me.
I was drawn into the lives of these men, fighting these skirmishes, and got to know them as warriors, family men and comrades in arms. No question they were re-enacting some scenarios that have really happened while also "fictionalizing" them for this movie - extractions, prevention of terrorist activity on US soil and a plausible plot along those lines.
I really enjoyed the cinematography of the film - it goes from focusing on blades of grass, and details in the forests where an "extraction" takes place in a very crystal clear way, to alternating views that are either simulating night vision goggles or a grainier view that the soldiers see through their eye gear. The action seems gritty and real and well enacted based on actual combat experience of the Navy Seals who are acting (as themselves) in this movie.
I admit to being totally engaged through the whole thing and here it is - I really cared about these guys. I cared when they got shot at, I hoped they made it through. We know enough about them to care, their wives, kids and families and then to watch keenly and to wish for them to be victorious in their missions.
Upsetting things happen that I won't detail but this movie is not for the weak of heart. It takes you all the way through some of these experiences.
A last note, the voice over narration from the beginning to the end of the film, is well written, touching and the tone of that illustrates the very idea of valor and what these men face in their lives. If you see this, stay through the end credits, watch all the names and the photographs displayed which show valor in many forms - ranging from firefighters, to police officers and others branches of service. Lots more to say about valor and where it can be. There was more in those pictures that I am missing...
Anyway. I don't know if you will see this movie, but I am glad I did. And ultimately, it was good entertainment, and kept my interest.
by debi_i_am at juicy_grapes
I was drawn into the lives of these men, fighting these skirmishes, and got to know them as warriors, family men and comrades in arms. No question they were re-enacting some scenarios that have really happened while also "fictionalizing" them for this movie - extractions, prevention of terrorist activity on US soil and a plausible plot along those lines.
I really enjoyed the cinematography of the film - it goes from focusing on blades of grass, and details in the forests where an "extraction" takes place in a very crystal clear way, to alternating views that are either simulating night vision goggles or a grainier view that the soldiers see through their eye gear. The action seems gritty and real and well enacted based on actual combat experience of the Navy Seals who are acting (as themselves) in this movie.
I admit to being totally engaged through the whole thing and here it is - I really cared about these guys. I cared when they got shot at, I hoped they made it through. We know enough about them to care, their wives, kids and families and then to watch keenly and to wish for them to be victorious in their missions.
Upsetting things happen that I won't detail but this movie is not for the weak of heart. It takes you all the way through some of these experiences.
A last note, the voice over narration from the beginning to the end of the film, is well written, touching and the tone of that illustrates the very idea of valor and what these men face in their lives. If you see this, stay through the end credits, watch all the names and the photographs displayed which show valor in many forms - ranging from firefighters, to police officers and others branches of service. Lots more to say about valor and where it can be. There was more in those pictures that I am missing...
Anyway. I don't know if you will see this movie, but I am glad I did. And ultimately, it was good entertainment, and kept my interest.
by debi_i_am at juicy_grapes
