Lone Survivor - It does what it says on the tin

I know you really shouldn’t put ‘spoilers’ in film reviews, but the title itself must give you a bit of a clue regarding what eventually happens. ‘Lone Survivor’ is the true story of an ill-fated U.S. Navy Seals mission to root out the Taliban.

Mark Wahlberg plays the leader (or at least the main) Navy Seal on the mission, so no prizes for guessing who’s the one who makes it to the final credits.  However, just because you probably already know what happens, doesn’t really detract from the film’s tension.  No one really stands out as giving the performance of a lifetime.  All the main characters (who speak English) are functional, i.e. the play battle-hardened soldiers as you’d expect.

It’s actually pretty scary stuff.  There aren’t exactly a million different special effects used (or required) to tell the story.  It’s quite a simple affair, i.e. a small squad of soldiers in the woods, deep behind enemy lines.  But, when they finally come into contact with those they’re there to destroy, things do not go according to plan and they end up being the ones on the receiving end.

Being a true story helps.  It does make you ponder what troops go through and the lack of big budget special effects give it a much more gritty feel (although, sometimes watching guys run through a wood did make it feel a little like a ‘made-for-TV’ movie).

It’s nothing revolutionary, but, if you’re into true life war films or are generally interested in modern armed conflict, it’s certainly worth a watch.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that