LONE SURVIVOR (B-)

Bottom Line: An aggressively patriotic look at brotherhood, courage, survival and sacrifice – LONE SURVIVOR (spoiler alert?!) is a movie that waves its flashily directed flag both loudly and proudly.  It rightfully commends our fearless and fallen soldiers – while it simultaneously baptizes their ill-fated mission in the Hollywood holy water of big budget style over substance.  Cobbled together by brute force, powerful bonds, occasionally sure-handed direction and a thin coating of box office cheese, it lacks the subtle character nuances of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and the powder keg, bat-out-of-hell believability of BLACK HAWK DOWN.  When it’s not impressing via action it treads the shallow waters of goofiness with all the subtle physics of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.  Gritty, bloody, semi-powerful and melodramatically heavy-handed – some will love it, some will only respect it, but I’m certain none will ever despise the over-the-top and out-of-control heroism on display.

 

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana

Directed by: Peter Berg (BATTLESHIP, THE RUNDOWN, HANCOCK and THE KINGDOM)

Rated: R

Running time: 121 minutes

Story: LONE SURVIVOR tells the story of four Navy SEALs on an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative who are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. Based on The New York Times bestseller. (c) Universal Pictures

 

Official site: www.lonesurvivorfilm.com