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Lone Survivor Reviews

Lone Survivor is an amazing war film that explores the idea of brotherhood and sacrifice in some of the best ways we’ve ever seen.

Full Review | Aug 12, 2024

Lone Survivor’s major saving grace is that it never resorts to actual flag-waving, but enough pro-military overtones subsist in the material to consider it an effective recruiting video.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 18, 2022

Peter Berg goes beyond the call of duty to forge a bond between the audience and the film's forlorn, leaving us hoping that the expected doesn't end up coming true.

Full Review | Jun 10, 2021

At its core it isn't a propaganda film or a slice of patriotism; instead it's a stark reminder of the camaraderie of soldiers in the field.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 1, 2021

Appreciably tense, gripping, graphic, grim, and nerve-wracking.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 3, 2020

Overwhelmed is exactly how you should feel watching this film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 14, 2020

Lone Survivor 's politics are reflected in its crude, ham-fisted aesthetics.

Full Review | Aug 13, 2020

The intent is sincere, but the execution heavy handed and excessive.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jul 28, 2020

There are near fetish levels of body horror going on here, as Berg luxuriates in every gaping wound and bullet hole, pummeling his cast beyond any possible human boundaries.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 8, 2020

Berg has taken pains to create a brutal, distressing, and unashamedly in-your-face depiction of the atrocities of war... The result is, for Berg and star Mark Wahlberg, a career best endeavor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2019

Feels more like a military recruitment commercial than an actual film, filled with superficial displays of patriotism.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 9, 2019

Lone Survivor resembles an extended recruitment advert for the first half and a snoozily detached war movie for the second - which is fitting because that's what it is.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 8, 2019

Lone Survivor may have served its original purpose -- whatever that may have been -- had it not been so mind-numbingly repetitive.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 7, 2019

It's hard to watch at times, but you can't deny the emotional impact.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 1, 2019

This appears to be the movie that its makers intended, but it still feels like a little more depth could have provided much more impact.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 17, 2019

Surprisingly, what makes this story hit home is the acting. All four men bring a quiet realism to their roles-the less they think of themselves as heroes, the more we do.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 3, 2018

It... challenges the viewer to reconsider simpleminded moralizing when it comes to war action.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2018

The fact that war really is hell is always kept front and centre throughout. Tobia Schliesser's cinematography is brilliant. This one's an adrenaline- packed ride all the way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2017

Peter Berg's latest directorial effort, the Navy SEALs drama Lone Survivor, is no better than a limp retelling that fails to get underneath the surface of the actual story.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Sep 5, 2017

It's what an action movie should be at its best; the shots fired are less interesting than the personal struggles of the men in battle.

Full Review | Aug 14, 2017

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Lone survivor, common sense media reviewers.

Brutal, powerful, ultimately moving true Navy SEAL story.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie wrestles with a profound moral quandary

The characters themselves are strong, brave, and w

The relentless battle violence is brutally realist

We hear plenty of sexual innuendo ("pushing p

Language is very strong and constant, including &q

Positive Messages

The movie wrestles with a profound moral quandary and viewers can decide what's right and wrong for themselves. War is depicted as ugly and brutal, but the Navy SEALs also show the considerable courage, strength, and dedication it takes to make the team, which makes them seem highly admirable. While some parents will find the patriotism, sacrifice, and heart the soldiers display incredibly moving, others might be concerned that war and the military appears in too positive a light, and might come off like a recruitment movie.

Positive Role Models

Violence & scariness.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Lone Survivor tells the true story of a 2005 Navy SEAL mission in Afghanistan gone terribly wrong. It features brutal, bloody violence, with guns, shooting, gory wounds, and many deaths, including major characters. The men use some sexual innuendo, as well as very strong language, including "f--k," "s--t," and "c--k." The movie is very intense, yet also very moving. It shows training footage and photos of real SEALs, including the real participants in this story. It also goes into a little detail about the Afghani tribe that rescued the last survivor, despite the danger they faced in doing so. Some parents won't mind bringing teens to this movie to demonstrate the bravery, heroism, and teamwork of the SEALs, but other parents may be worried that teens will want to head to the recruiting office afterward. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (14)
Kids say (36)

Based on 14 parent reviews

Extremely disturbing, but one of the best movies out.

One of the best war movies ever made, what's the story.

In 2005, a team of four Navy SEALs is sent on a mission called "Operation Red Wings." Their task is to take out a high-ranking Taliban leader, who is hiding somewhere in an Afghanistan mountain range. The SEALs -- Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy ( Taylor Kitsch ), Marcus Luttrell ( Mark Wahlberg ), Matthew Axelson ( Ben Foster ), and Danny Dietz ( Emile Hirsch ) -- locate him, and settle in to wait for nightfall. Unfortunately, three goatherders accidentally discover them; Murphy decides to let them go and to abort the mission. Unfortunately, before they can reach safety, the alerted Taliban begin a brutal chase and shootout. A lone man escapes, but is discovered by some Afghan Pashtun villagers. Wounded and exhausted, his fate is now in their hands.

Is It Any Good?

Nothing in writer/director Peter Berg 's career would indicate that he had this kind of intense, moving, and brutal movie in him. Not even The Kingdom , another story inspired by the wars in the Middle East. LONE SURVIVOR starts off with some Navy SEAL training footage and ends with photos of the real participants, but in-between, the movie is purely visceral, generating adrenaline, alarm, and even tears.

Berg manages to avoid high-minded seriousness while still respecting the material. The actors build genuine chemistry and warmth with their discussions of personal lives and things back home; viewers can understand who they are. Berg avoids too much camera-shaking in his depictions of the bloody battle, emphasizing pain, shock, and scrambling. A tumble from a high rock, for example, is absolutely vicious. He builds adrenaline without tipping too far into either excitement or horror. And the ending is genuinely touching, and genuinely earned. You can't look away.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's intense, brutal, bloody violence . What effect did it have? Did it seem realistic? Was it necessary in telling this story?

How does this movie make the Navy SEALs look? Do they come across as warriors or regular people? Does it make you want to join them? Do you think that's the intention of the movie?

Would you say that this movie is an anti-war movie or a pro-war movie, or somewhere in-between? Why?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 27, 2013
On DVD or streaming : June 3, 2014
Cast : Ben Foster , Mark Wahlberg , Taylor Kitsch
Director : Peter Berg
Studio : Universal Pictures
Genre : Drama
Run time : 127 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong bloody war violence and pervasive language
Last updated : May 15, 2024

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Lone Survivor

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

What to say about a war film whose outcome is evident in the title? In the case of Lone Survivor , you commend the outstanding job done by writer-director Peter Berg in telling the remarkable true story recounted by Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell in his book of the same name. In 2005, medic and sniper Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Lt. Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), gunner’s mate Danny P. Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and sonar technician Matthew “Axe” Axelson (Ben Foster) were deployed to the Afghan mountains as a surveillance team for Operation Red Wings, a mission targeting Taliban commander Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami) and his fighters.

The movie doesn’t go much beyond cliché in establishing the camaraderie among these SEALs while in training. But once on duty, Berg ( Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom ) proves a virtuoso at showing how action defines character. And Wahlberg, Kitsch, Hirsch and Foster add to the impact.

The story changes course when the four SEALs, hidden on the mountain slopes, are seen by three unarmed Afghan goatherds. Are they Taliban? And if so, should they be executed to save the mission? Murphy, the ranking officer played with subtlety and power by Kitsch, follows conscience, not tactics, and persuades his team to let them go.

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Then what? Ambush, is what. After the youngest goatherd runs down the mountain to inform on the SEALs, Taliban forces, numbering 140, gather on a ridge and start shooting. Cut off from HQ and badly bruised from rocks and branches while rolling downhill, the four SEALs take their own share of casualties. But they are fatally outnumbered. The bravura filmmaking in this sequence is astounding. But Berg’s real achievement is keeping the human element front and center as Luttrell watches his comrades picked off one by one, despite a daring helicopter rescue attempt.

All praise to Wahlberg for a performance of shattering ferocity and feeling, especially so when Luttrell, at his most vulnerable, is offered protection by an enemy father and son. Berg rightly lets the people trump the politics. Like the best war movies, Lone Survivor laces action with moral questions that haunt and provoke.

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Lone Survivor (2013)

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Lone Survivor Review

Theater of war..

Lone Survivor director Peter Berg puts the emphasis on action and veneration rather than dramatic exploration and nuance in this fact-based Navy SEALs film.

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DVD & Streaming

Lone Survivor

Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

December 25, 2013
Mark Wahlberg as Marcus Luttrell; Taylor Kitsch as Michael Murphy; Emile Hirsch as Danny Dietz; Ben Foster as Matt 'Axe' Axelson; Eric Bana as Erik Kristensen

Home Release Date

June 3, 2014

Distributor

Universal Pictures

Movie Review

Late on the night of June 27, 2005, an MH-47 Special Operations Aircraft inserted, via fast rope, a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team between a pair of Afghani mountain peaks. Their mission was labeled Operation Red Wing.

Team Spartan―made up of team leader Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Danny P. Dietz, Sonar Technician 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson and Corpsman 1st Class Marcus Luttrell―were all seasoned pros, ready to do their job and ready to hike the mountainous mile and a half necessary to reach their destination.

Upon reaching the Area of Interest, the SEALs followed protocol, set up mountainside overwatch positions and soon spotted their target��terrorist leader Ahmed Shahd walking the dirt streets of a village below. There was only one problem: After repeated attempts they could not establish clear radio communication with home base. So it was decided they’d dig in and reattempt connection after a few hours of shuteye. Again, as per protocol.

That’s when everything fell apart.

Team Spartan was accidentally discovered by three local goatherds who all but stumbled over them in the mountain undergrowth. After determining that the men were civilians—not combatants—the SEALs faced a quandary. What should they do now that the operation’s cover had been blown? If they let the men go, there was surely a chance they would run to the Taliban forces―the Taliban army ―in the village below, leaving the SEALs exposed and, without radio communication, unsure of extraction. On the other hand, even though they could surely defend their need to do so, if the unarmed goatherds were truly innocents, it would be morally wrong to kill them―not to mention likely to show up on CNN and trumpeted as a war crime.

Lt. Murphy orders the men released, according to the rules of civilian engagement. And the Navy SEALs begin moving to a point where they might regain radio contact.

Two hours later, the Taliban ambush arrive in force from three sides.

Positive Elements

The film’s opening moments give us a thumbnail sketch of the kind of torturous training that SEAL candidates go through―pushing their minds and bodies to the breaking point. It also gives us a glimpse into the reasons these men form a lasting bond of brotherhood and interdependence.

Both of those elements come fully into play later as the four members of Team Spartan fight through gunshot wounds and broken bones to protect one another, dragging the injured to safety and going far beyond what most would consider even above-normal levels of physical endurance. When the 20-to-one battle gets to its hottest point, one badly wounded SEAL turns to his fellow combatant and says, “If I die, I need Cindy to know how much I loved her and that I died with my brothers with a full f‑‑‑ing heart.”

In a heroic last-ditch effort to call for help for his comrads, one SEAL climbs a rock outcropping to where his SAT phone might make a connection. In doing so, of course, he knowingly exposes himself to deadly fire from nearby Taliban shooters.

Only a horribly bloodied and broken Luttrell is finally left alive (hardly a spoiler given the film’s title). And in the story’s second act (which is devoted to mercy and courage), he’s found and rescued by local Pashtun villagers. We eventually learn that these Afghani villagers have a 2,000-year-old code of honor that calls upon them to protect any injured man from his enemies. In spite of the Taliban threat that they will all be slaughtered, then, the villagers care for Luttrell for five days, taking up arms on his behalf until notified American forces can arrive.

Spiritual Elements

When things start going wrong, one of the SEALs opines that it’s starting to feel like a cursed op. Luttrell assures him it’s not. And later, after a deadly situation turns out a bit better than they thought, Luttrell grins, “See? God’s looking out for us.” The other guy retorts, “I’d hate to see Him when He’s p‑‑‑ed.”

Sexual Content

A SEAL rookie recites a team mantra that’s sprinkled with macho, sexualized references to male and female genitalia. One of the SEALs rolls out of bed bare-chested so the camera can eye his ripped physique.

Violent Content

Early on, a Taliban group drags a suspected traitor out into a village square and viciously hacks off his head (just out of the frame) for the rest of the local villagers to see. That’s disturbing and grisly enough, but just a hint of what’s coming. It’s no exaggeration to say that once Taliban forces mass against the SEALs, the film becomes a real-time stream of nonstop, incredibly lifelike and ultimately soul-pummeling carnage.

In the early goings, the well-trained SEALs pick off scores of the enemy with blood- and brain-gushing head and upper torso shots. But as the fighting intensifies and everything from large-caliber mounted machine guns to rocket-propelled grenades are brought into the mix, we watch as our heroes get literally ripped to shreds.

The men take bullets and shrapnel to their legs, upper bodies and heads as the camera closely inspects stumps of blown-off fingers, a severed ear and bones protruding through flesh. We watch one team member fight to his last gasping breath—and then his corpse is mutilated with a bullet to the forehead.

More brutal punishment comes as the already wounded SEALs are forced to twice drop over sheer cliff faces―agonizingly smashing into trees, logs, rocks and boulders as they tumble down. A helicopter full of supporting troops is blown out of the air by a missile. The craft crashes in a ball of flame. Luttrell has to take a knife and perform surgery on his own grievous wounds, cutting out large chunks of life-threatening shrapnel.

Crude or Profane Language

Well over 150 f-words. We also hear a couple handfuls of s-words and a steady trickle of “b‑‑ch,” “b‑‑tard,” “d‑‑n” and “h‑‑‑.” God’s name is linked two or three times with “d‑‑n.” Crude references are made to sexual body parts. A few rude jests are shared by SEALs, including a quip about watching their “c‑‑k and balls” around some of the mountainous dangers.

Drug and Alcohol Content

An Afghani smokes a cigarette.

Lone Survivor is a cinematic recounting of a real-life failed U.S. military operation. It took place in the mountainous Kunar Province of Afghanistan in June of 2005 and has since been called the worst tragedy in the history of the Navy SEALs―ultimately claiming the lives of 19 Americans.

Film director Peter Berg takes that tragic scenario, lifting the essentials from survivor Marcus Luttrell’s memoirs, and creates an incredibly visceral, immersive and realistic depiction of the conflict. It’s so life-like, gruesome and disturbingly brutal, in truth, that at times it’s almost unbearable.

This isn’t simply a critique of the hell of war, though. Nor is it strictly a protest of the United States’ ongoing military efforts in Afghanistan. It’s not just a one-dimensional bullet-blazing war flick about a handful of ravaged, obscenity-spewing soldiers.

You can find elements to support each of those perspectives if you’re looking for them. But there’s more than that here.

This is a movie that emotionally and caustically challenges us to think about the virtues of self-sacrificial brotherhood, service to country, honor and bravery. It lauds the ability of some to drive themselves to near-impossible levels of physical and mental toughness. And it shakes its cinematic head in awe over how men can willingly put themselves in harm’s way to fight for freedom and justice, sometimes even when that freedom and justice is meant for foreigners they have no personal connection to.

The film also makes it clear that acts of humanity and decency are alive and well, even on the battlefield. And that those are not solely flag-waving American attributes. They are traits, it tells us, that are woven into the fabric of communities found in any part of the world. And they are traits that somehow manage to survive the stranglehold of violence that otherwise chokes Lone Survivor .

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Lone Survivor

Review by brian eggert january 15, 2014.

Jingoist and bordering on propaganda, Lone Survivor is a war film uninterested in directly addressing the politics of war; instead, it’s concerned about the camaraderie of soldiers and the extreme physical toils they put themselves through to train and thrive on to maintain their team—very much akin to Act of Valor , the 2012 actioner starring active U.S. Navy SEALs. Based on Marcus Luttrell’s best-selling nonfiction book, the film follows Navy SEAL Team 10 on their March 2005 mission Operation Red Wings, in which Luttrell’s four-man reconnaissance team went into Afghanistan to scout Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. And while the title and author give away what happens to whom, it’s more of a battle film akin to Black Hawk Down , about the brotherhood of the SEALs and their never-stop-fighting attitude. There’s no discussion or skepticism toward politics or the reasons for war because, well, theirs is not to wonder why; theirs is but to endure endless punishment to preserve the team.

“The team,” in this case, is their immediate SEAL unit, and by extension, their country, which orders them “into those cold, dark corners where the bad things live, where the bad things fight. We wanted that fight at the highest volume.” Luttrell’s patriotic appreciation of battle and Navy SEAL solidarity is narrated by Mark Wahlberg, who plays Luttrell here. Along with his gung-ho compatriots—Axe Axelson (Ben Foster), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and Mike Murphy (Taylor Kitsch)—Luttrell takes position in the Hindu Kush mountains of the Kunar province to overlook Shahd’s compound. While scouting, they’re approached by an elderly man and two adolescents in the woods, but there’s no certainty if these civilians are Taliban-sympathetic. What to do, what to do? The SEALs have three options: “terminate the compromise”, take them captive, or release them and risk them alerting the compound below.

After some debate, they resolve the decent thing to do (as mandated by the Geneva Convention) is release the three—an ill-fated choice, given what follows. The freed herders quickly alert the base below and before long, the four SEALs are pinned down by a throng of encroaching Taliban, fighting for their lives. It’s a 30-minute sequence of unceremonious gunfire and death, interrupted by the usual everything-goes-wrong situations customary to war movies. Their satellite communications prove unreliable, their air support is delayed, the top brass are moving too slow, and the rescue choppers deployed are quickly shot down by the enemy. When it was all over, more than a dozen American soldiers died in a mission that was at first deemed to be not particularly dangerous. But don’t go searching these events for a critique about why the U.S. military is in the Middle East. See Lions for Lambs , In the Valley of Elah , or Redacted for that.

Director Peter Berg, who also wrote the screenplay, doesn’t use Luttrell’s story as a springboard to discuss the insanity of war, the politics that led the U.S. into Afghanistan, or the failure of U.S. forces to sufficiently strategize an operation with “a lot of moving parts” before executing it. Instead, Berg uses every technical trick in his arsenal to make the film a visceral experience, including shaky cams and sharp cutting to realize the intense action. The editing is particularly effective in a sequence where Luttrell and his team leap from a rocky ledge and tumble down a hill on which they collide with jagged rocks and trees, leaving them bloodied and broken. Berg’s cinematic realization of these events is exciting, but his angle lacks substance. The characters have thin personalities that feel all but issued to them by their drill instructors (as seen in the actual SEAL training footage during the opening credits); these aren’t individuals with distinct character traits, and they’re best differentiated by naming the actors playing them.

Lone Survivor has been something of a passion project for Berg, who’s better when exploring real-life wartime situations (see The Kingdom ) than his infrequent sci-fi-infused efforts (don’t see Hancock ). To adapt Luttrell’s book, Universal Studios asked Berg to direct Battleship first, a bargain he agreed to and, no matter how effective (or successful) Lone Survivor might be, lost. His film is a noble testament to men who died in Operation Red Wings, a straightforward Navy SEAL celebration through the retelling of their story. But then it’s capped by the misplaced use of Peter Gabriel’s cover of “Heroes” by David Bowie over the end credits. To paraphrase World War II vet and filmmaker Samuel Fuller ( The Big Red One ), “There are no heroes in war, only survivors.” Lone Survivor ’s major saving grace is that it never resorts to actual flag-waving, but enough pro-military overtones subsist in the material to consider it an effective recruiting video.

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Lone Survivor Review

31 Jan 2014

121 minutes

Lone Survivor

For a film with an hour-long firefight in which a quartet of Navy SEALs are shot, burned, blown up and impaled, it’s curious that the most brutal opponent in Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor turns out to be a tree. In a scene that surpasses 2007’s Hot Rod as the definitive example of Man Vs. Hill, the four soldiers, fleeing incoming fire, hurl themselves over a rocky escarpment. The resulting 30-second descent makes you feel every crack, thud and crunch, as they collide with stumps and rocky outcrops before coming to a sudden arboreal stop. It’s an eye-watering sequence, one that leaves you as emotionally battered and broken as the men themselves (not to mention the stuntman who suffered three broken ribs and a punctured lung). And if that weren’t enough, 20 minutes later it happens all over again.

An ocean away from Battleship’s frothy action, Berg’s latest war film shows a very different face to armed conflict, demonstrating how even the best-laid plans fall apart in the face of sod’s immutable law. Based on Marcus Luttrell’s bestselling account of Operation Red Wings, Lone Survivor jettisons much of the book’s context, focusing on the mission itself. The single, rolling engagement that occupies almost half the film’s run time is a punishing ordeal deftly handled by Berg, who shows off the knack for limited-vantage, running firefights he demonstrated in The Kingdom.

But as effective as the action is, it comes at the expense of personality. We know almost nothing about the men whose lives hang in the balance, save for a fumbled series of playbook touchstones (an IM chat to a sweetheart back home and some eye-rolling at a wife’s interior design choices). Berg veteran Taylor Kitsch gives a decent stab at bringing humanity to squad leader Lt. Murphy, while Wahlberg does his level best to breathe some life into Luttrell himself; Emile Hirsch, on the other hand, is left with almost nothing to do. The opposition fares still worse, with Taliban commander Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami) beheading an Afghan villager purely to show how horribly evil he is. A sop at the film’s conclusion, insisting that not all Afghans are bloodthirsty insurgents, only serves to highlight the film’s binary morality.

It’s particularly unfortunate given that the story hinges on a morally complex decision. Discovered by a trio of non-combatants, the soldiers wrestle with the practical implications of cutting them loose and the ethical consequences of cutting their throats. Given how the film pans out, you can’t help wondering whether the point of this tale is that they’d have been far better off having murdered the lot of them, which is discomfiting to say the least. That the team did not is commendable, but their hagiographic treatment is as unwarranted as it is poor storytelling. The notion that these men are red-blooded American heroes is banged home with alarming regularity, and capped off by an arduous montage of the real-life soldiers, set to a cover of Bowie’s Heroes. If you’re looking for political subtlety, even Battleship might be a better option than this.

A lack of story finesse can’t eclipse the veracity of the action, however. For half of Lone Survivor the battle is the narrative, and there it scores a hit with every shot. Quite possibly the most authentic gunfight you’ll see and the most affecting view of combat since Black Hawk Down, this is a potent glimpse at the reality of modern warfare for the Call Of Duty generation.

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Movie Reviews

In 'lone survivor,' heroics extend only as far as survival, solidarity.

Ella Taylor

Mark Wahlberg plays Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor. Universal Pictures hide caption

Lone Survivor

Director: Peter Berg
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 121 minutes

Rated R for strong bloody war violence and pervasive language

With: Mark Wahlberg , Taylor Kitsch , Emile Hirsch , Ben Foster

We are awash in war films, and why is it that nonfiction films such as Dirty Wars or Iraq in Fragments increasingly resort to the dramatizing techniques of narrative film, while fiction films strain toward procedure, as if to avoid the sticky business of interpretation altogether?

For the better part of its first hour, Lone Survivor — a fact-based procedural about four Navy SEALS dispatched to document the activities of a high-ranking Taliban operative in Afghanistan — rehearses preparation in obsessive detail. Sure, there are the familiar faces you'd expect from a men-at-war action picture: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch, Eric Bana, as well as one (Emile Hirsch) you might not. A back story is sketched in here and there to heighten the pathos of what follows. No spoilers necessary; the grisly outcome, if not the finale, is all in the movie's title and its opening sequence.

But mostly it's ripped male muscle being put through its excruciating paces by yelling drill sergeants, meticulous planning at Bagram Air Base, the loading of high-tech gear, the whir of choppers — all the busy stuff of a brutally efficient Peter Berg movie.

Until, that is, everything goes quiet, the four are on their own, and the Watershed Moment arrives. On a steep mountainside, the SEALS are confronted with a family of shepherds, one of whom — a handsome boy — stares at the Americans with hatred in his eyes. The inscrutable patriarch carries a walkie-talkie. Are they for or against the Taliban? Do the rules of engagement apply or the rules of survival?

The panicked debate that follows about whether to kill the shepherds or let them go is an unnerving stew of ethics, protocol and naked calculation. But what's great is that no Ethical Angel appears, nor any correct answer. There's only someone who's willing to break the stalemate and make a choice.

Whatever the SEALS do will have fateful consequences, and from here on the outcomes are all in the meticulous detail. In the contrast between the lightning speed with which the Afghan boy leaps down the craggy mountain like one of his goats and the Americans' slow, huffing ascent as they try to call the whole thing off and discover that a communications glitch has cut them off from HQ, we see the debacle to come.

When you don't know the terrain and you don't know who's for or against you, heroics are either beside the point or they extend only as far as survival and solidarity. In this regard, Berg is relentlessly unsparing — in Lone Survivor , we discover what it is like to topple downhill from rock to rock, and what it is like to reach for your gun and find that your hand is missing — but never Tarantino-sadistic.

There's courage aplenty in Lone Survivor — the day when grunts were made to stand in for American imperialism is long gone and rightly so.

But the movie is resolutely anti-heroic until the very end, when triumphalism creeps in, bringing a tattered happy ending belied by photos of the real-life casualties. Even then the lone survivor, confronted with possible rescue and a little boy with huge dark eyes, screams his intention to blow his saviors away. Is that his training or has he been pushed to a place where the rules of engagement no longer apply?

Lone Survivor

For Your Consideration ads taken out by Universal on behalf of Peter Berg ’s Lone Survivor leaned heavily on a quote by Grantland and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons, calling the movie “the most extraordinary war film since Saving Private Ryan .” I like Simmons. A lot, actually. He’s an excellent, insightful columnist, and I read him often… if I’m interested in the NBA draft, or the Patriots’ off-season maneuvers. But when a studio uses a sports expert for a blurb on a movie’s poster – and one with awards aspirations – it immediately raises a caution flag.

Thankfully, there’s no cause for concern. Raw and real (right up until a brutal conclusion lifted out of a Rambo movie), Lone Survivor is a meat-and-potatoes soldier story, beautifully shot with an eye for unusual terrain by Berg and his regular cinematographer, Tobias Schliessler ( Battleship , Hancock ). It embraces the horrors of war, even as it celebrates the men and women who willfully choose to enter such visceral militaristic contests. And the film’s second hour, essentially one sustained firefight, is about as tense and realistic a combat sequence as we have seen since – well, maybe Mr. Simmons was on to something.

The story is based on the best-selling memoirs of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor of a failed mission who is portrayed on-screen by blue-collar Mark Wahlberg – comfortable now in character-actor gigs and heavy-handed genre action. Lone Survivor can be a bit of both. After showing our hero flat-lining in the aftermath of the central, bloody battle, Berg leaps back three days to introduce the men of SEAL Team 10. Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch) is engaged to a girl back home who hopes he’ll buy her a horse. Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and his significant other are building a home, and there are a lot of creative decisions that need to be made. All along, the men of Team 10 consistently haze the “new guy,” Shane Patton (Alexander Ludwig).

When the mission starts, though, Lone Survivor shelves the boys -club nonsense and becomes all business. By following Luttrell’s book to the letter, it details “Operation Red Wings,” a failed mission targeting Ahmad Shah, a Tier-One target for our military. In order to bag the Taliban leader, Luttrell and his team embark on a mission with “a lot of moving parts.”

They have no idea.

The mission takes a left turn when two kids and an old man stumble on the pack of soldiers, presenting a life-threatening quandary. Kill the unarmed prisoners, and Luttrell’s squad breaks military protocol. Let them go, however, and the soldiers know they are going to alert Taliban forces to the soldiers’ position, compromising the operation and inviting all hell to break loose. Care to guess which happens?

It’s not “if” the men die in Lone Survivor . It’s “how” they die, and Berg generates ample amounts of behind-enemy-lines tension throughout this compelling war drama, which lays its cards on the table with a revealing title but still holds us in a vice grip for two compelling hours. The rocky, isolated landscapes of Afghanistan – really New Mexico – act as an antagonistic character for the soldiers on this deadly, fact-based mission. And Berg eschews night-vision green or the hand-held chop that has characterized war pictures of the recent past. Lone Survivor proves contemporary, with his Taliban targets, but isn’t rooted in a conflict that makes it of-the-moment. It’s an authentic military exercise that can (and will) stand the test of time.

Berg’s men also have an enviable chemistry, a rapport that bonds the unit and, in turn, supports the movie. Credit Luttrell, who reportedly was a consultant on the picture and helped Berg train his actors in the irregular art of military combat. Wahlberg’s ideally cast as scruffy Luttrell, the veteran leader who acts like a big brother to the men in his squad. Ben Foster stands out as the voice of reason in an unreasonable situation. And Kitsch, God help me, is watchable. After dreadful turns in Battleship and John Carter , I never thought I’d appreciate the young actor in any feature. He may survive in this industry after all.

Lone Survivor delivers what it promises, and nothing more. It is a hard-hitting, bloody account of a failed combat mission, giving enough time to the man who survived, as well as to the men we lost. It may not contend for awards in this crowded season, but it will earn standing ovations in American multiplexes for its no-nonsense approach to heroism in impossible situations.

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.

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Lone Survivor (United States, 2013)

In the mountains of Afghanistan, one man, injured and bleeding, struggles against impossible odds to stay alive. It's at this point that the focus of Peter Berg's Lone Survivor shifts from that of a war movie to that of a tale of survival. In retrospect, it's something of a minor miracle that every member of the military's Operation Red Wings didn't go home in a body bag. It's not that the mission was poorly planned, although too much faith was placed in uncertain communication methods, but it was undone by a freak and unfortunate coincidence. The result was a U.S. death toll of 19 for an action that was not initially viewed as being especially dangerous.

Lone Survivor is director Peter Berg's "reward" for making Battleship for Universal Pictures. The studio agreed to bankroll Lone Survivor only if Berg first helmed what they hoped would launch a new summer movie franchise. (We all know how that turned out.) The film is based on events that occurred on the ground in the Hindu Kush mountains of the Kunar province in June 2005 as related in the book co-authored by sole survivor Marcus Luttrell.

The movie starts out by introducing us to the four main characters, all Navy SEALs who will end up involved in a firefight with vastly superior numbers. In addition to Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), we're presented with mission leader Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and Matt "Axe" Axelson (Ben Foster). Lieutenant Commander Erik Kristensen, the overall commander of SEAL Team 10, is given a fair amount of screen time, possibly due to his being played by Eric Bana. The meet-and-great section of Lone Survivor is standard stuff - isolated vignettes designed to humanize the men who will end up in harm's way. Its effectiveness is limited; aside from Luttrell, the characters seem generic.

The objective of Operation Red Wings is the capture or elimination of a high-value Taliban leader. Four SEALs are placed on the ground to target him. The first problem they encounter is that neither their radio equipment nor their satellite phone works with regularity, leaving them cut off when a key decision needs to be made. Then, while they're in hiding, their position is approached by three goat herders. In what stands out as the film's most compelling sequence, the SEALs must make a life-and-death decision: abide by the rules of engagement and release their unarmed prisoners or kill men they believe could be Taliban spies. In a move that has led to much soul-searching by Luttrell and second-guessing throughout the military, the SEALs release the goat herders. Less than two hours later, they are ambushed and three of them don't survive. Even worse, a rescue helicopter is shot down, greatly increasing the death toll.

Berg's mix of traditional equipment and hand-held cameras proves effective in capturing the tension and chaos of the battle. The Americans suffer injuries not only because of the weapons of their attackers but because, in their retreat, they fall down steep slopes littered with rocks and other devastating debris. The film's treatment of battle is realistic in a grim, gruesome fashion. One extended sequence, beginning when the SEALs first take fire and ending when Luttrell falls asleep while in hiding, represents filmmaking at its most intense. Lone Survivor is graphic in its depiction of what happened to these men and is not for those who believe war movies should be sanitized. Some aspects of the production are similar to Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs (which may have in part been inspired by Operation Red Wings), but this is a more centered motion picture, maintaining its narrative momentum with a brisk pace.

The acting is solid but not of the type likely to attract awards considerations. Mark Walhberg is the film's glue and he's believable as a man who, despite taking an incredible amount of physical punishment, continues to struggle along. None of the other actors is given sufficient time to develop a legitimate character. Eric Bana in particular is wasted, although it has been reported that the actor, after reading the script, was willing to accept any role just to appear in the film.

It can be said that Lone Survivor does justice to Luttrell's story, providing a cinematic recreation of events that were related in great detail in the book and which Luttrell discussed in countless 2007 interviews. Lone Survivor can be seen as either a nihilistic chronicle of a mission gone wrong in which nearly all of the characters are killed or a tale of courage and survival about how one man defied the odds and returned home. Most war films try to be epic in scope and intent. Lone Survivor opts for a smaller focus and succeeds on its own terms.

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Review: lone survivor.

Like his prior The Kingdom , Peter Berg’s film pretends to dabble in a frothy moral ambiguity, swiftly betraying its true aims with trigger-happy jingoism.

Like Peter Berg’s prior The Kingdom , which pictured a fantasy F.B.I. intervention in Saudi Arabia, Lone Survivor pretends to dabble in a frothy moral ambiguity, swiftly betraying its true aims with trigger-happy jingoism. Recreating a botched operation in Afghanistan that ultimately led to the deaths of 19 Navy SEALS, the film seeks to be unbearable in its violence, never equivocating about the necessity of martyrdom in military culture. Much in the vein of Black Hawk Down , a film from which Berg unmistakably took encouragement, a roster of young white A-listers are given starring roles in the cadre, with the implicit knowledge (see: title) that they won’t make it to the movie’s end. Yet despite the foreknowledge of a bloodbath, the heavy emphasis on sacrifice, there can be no mistaking it for an antiwar film.

The team leader is the rogueish Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), who finds himself stranded with his squad (Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster) on an arid Afghan cliff. Sent from Bagram Air Force Base—under the command of Lieutenant Commander Erik Kristensen (an especially humorless Eric Bana)—to either kill or capture Taliban commander Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami), who Berg introduces decapitating a hapless villager, the guys hit a snag when their hiding place is stumbled upon by a couple of goatherds with a walkie-talkie. Some of the men want to kill the two civilians, one of whom is a teenage boy, but eventually decide, with much vexation, to instead adhere to the Geneva Conventions and set them free. This decision inevitably kicks off a Taliban attack up the mountain, with scores of combatants imprisoning the SEALs among scraggly patches of tree and rock.

Strictly as a piece of action cinema, Berg’s staging of the firefight exudes a strikingly palpable tension: Each of the SEALs is pinned to his own slim area of cover, with bullets ricocheting from every possible direction just off screen. The more cinematographer Tobias A. Schliesser tightens the frame around each man, the more chaotic the editing becomes; the shootout feels fast, seemingly endless, and as such without relief. Eventually the four (all injured) decide to roll down the cliff to eke out a new position; the camera follows each man as he tumbles downward, picking up every last bone-crunching thud, the blood-covered bodies already resembling corpses free falling in suspended motion.

This is one of a good many moments where Lone Survivor comes off unintentionally hilarious for the way it bathes in its characters’ almost grotesque superhuman strength. Just as Berg’s SEALs dust themselves off (“That sucked!” says Foster’s soldier), the film seems confident that we’re ready to watch them suffer some more, and so they roll down the hill again. Berg clearly prefers his heroes in combat, making no equivocations about their hardness—after all, in the U.S. military, SEALs are considered the best of the best. Neither does he pretend to be interested in whether or not they should be dropping into Afghanistan in the first place; Bana’s commander does the screenplay a helpful bit of shorthand by pointing to a photo of Shah and commenting “Bad Guy” in an early planning session.

Lone Survivor proofs itself against criticism by hiding behind its protagonists; the physicality of its filmmaking is but a pretext for yet another gargantuan, subliminal recruitment ad. When pogo-sticking from the intense shallow focus of the aforementioned gundown to a lens-flared landscape shot of Kitsch being ripped apart by bullets while practically dangling off a cliff, Schliesser’s vistas are steroidal, operatic, uncannily digital. In moments like these, the goal—to honor the memory of 19 soldiers while detailing their sacrifice as explicitly as possible—reeks of bad faith. The actual Operations Red Wings 1 and 2 were both strategic setbacks for the military, and the body count on the Afghan side (combatant or bystander) is never remotely considered by Berg’s script. But a slideshow epilogue of the real guys at the end (set to a shimmering Peter Gabriel cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes”) maybe speaks the loudest. These men died in the real world so that Luttrell could live and, thus, so that you could pay to watch Mark Wahlberg play him in a movie.

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Lone Survivor Review

TRULY GRIPPING AND INTENSE,

But missing something.

Over the past decade or so, Hollywood has punched out a fair share of war films for audience members to see with gritty real-life action, bombastic gunfights and explosion, and unwavering portrayals of valor and honor to those characters that fight and die in the name of freedom. Whether based in truth or in fiction, these movies are the closest thing to the “Theatre of War” that many, including myself, will ever get to experience; offering a small window glance inward (Albeit dramatized to some degree) at the real life bravery and sacrifice that the men and women in our armed forces do to protect way of life. Now, to start off the year of 2014, Universal studios and director Peter Berg debut the film Lone Survivor , based on the accounts of U.S Navy Seal Marcus Lutrell. Does the film stick to its source material or is it just another Hollywood “paint-by-numbers” war flick?

In June 2005, “Operation Red Wings” was a go. U.S. Navy Seal Team 10 is assigned to the task of a covert mission to capture one of the most wanted men in the Taliban, Ahmad Shah. Four experience Navy Seals go in: Hospital Corpsman 2 nd class Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Lt. Mike Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Gunner’s mate 2 nd class Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Sonar Technician 2 nd class Matt Axelson (Ben Foster). As the mission progresses, all seems to be going as planned until the four Seals are discovered a shepherd and two young boys. The choice on whether that they should be let go (And by doing so comprise their mission) or having them killed (Ignoring the Rules of Engagement and be disgraced by the world media) is debated heavily amongst the four Navy Seals and soon a decision is made and thus sealing their fate.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

With the movie Deepwater Horizon coming out soon (with actor Mark Wahlberg in it and director Peter Berg directing it), I decided to post my old movie review of Lone Survivor (from my old blog). Enjoy!

Helming this project is director Peter Berg, who has previously directed The Rundown , Friday Night Lights , and The Kingdom . Berg seems to take a respectable approach to its source material, making sure that Lone Survivor doesn’t turn into a generic war-time movie, but rather a define homage to Lutrell’s account with some tweaks here and there (more on the below). Personally, with the film being based on a true story, it’s always interesting and far more gripping to watch a real life story come alive on the big screen rather than a fictional account. The film open credits are quite unique, displaying various cuts of actual footage of Navy Seals hopefuls going through some grueling training exercises (Marcus Lutrell described on such events heavily in the book); giving viewers a visual yet rudimentary sense of the dedication and determination of what it takes to become a US Navy Seal. Very similar to is opening is the film’s ending which is a touching homage to some of the actual characters who took part in “Operation Red Wings” accompanied by somber version of David Bowie’s “Heroes” sung by Peter Gabriel.

For those action junkies out there, the middle act of Lone Survivor is going to be your favorite part as the action in the movie is intense. It’s raw and full of chaotic gunfire with blood and “F-bombs” flying here and there. It may be a turn off for some, those less queasy to these types of the movies, but, for me personally, it works cohesively for the overall feel and tone of Lone Survivor’s story, as it must be. Additionally, the movie also places the spotlight on the military’s ROE (the rules of engagement), a set of rules and procedures that are to be applied in wartime combat situation. Of course, that’s the big dilemma in the movie, which the soldiers face, and is echoed in today’s mainstream media and in active combat soldiers. Are these laws good or bad? And what of the repercussions behind it once a decision is finally made? While I personally can’t speak of the merits and faults of the ROE (I’m a civilian), the film does raise some discussion questions about its effect and consequences.

Even without prior reading knowledge of Lutrell’s book, many can surmise that the film’s name (along with the book) says it all as viewers pretty much know what to expect when sitting down to watch the film for the first time. So, in a sense, the film losses its allure of its shock and awe of when it comes down the film’s middle act as the question of “What just happened!” changes to “Oh, that’s how it happened”. The middle act also is also a bit too long, which I know is a key part of the story, but it’s just too drawn out for its own good, so much to a point that it consumes time for the film’s third act.

As for the film’s third act itself, it suffers the most out of Lutrell’s account, which is strange as Marcus himself is the primary person of this part of the narrative. There’s so much taken out from the book (whether changed, shortened, or removed) that its simple feels like an afterthought rather than a solidified final act. As a result of this, the humanity (In general) and in the character of Marcus on-screen doesn’t quite measure up to the humanity in the Marcus in real life, which is express very vividly and openly in the book. This, however, doesn’t fall on Wahlberg’s portrayal of Marcus, but rather on the direction of the film from Peter Berg. To sum it up, Berg’s Lone Survivor focuses a little too much on its action and less on Lutrell’s final journey, failing to fully “encompass” on what could’ve been told. .

At the center of Lone Survivor is the main character Marcus Lutrell, who is played by actor Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg, who has proven to his acting chops in several action / drama films such as The Fighter , Invincible , and The Departed , certainly does bring a strong leadership role to the character, and does the real Marcus Lutrell some justice in this dramatized version of his tale. The other three soldiers, Mike Murphy, played by Taylor Kitsch, Danny Dietz, played by Emile Hirsch, and Matt Axelson, played by Ben Foster, do fine jobs in the roles of acting in bringing these real-life characters to life (via theatrical representation). As a group, these four do a great job, displaying a great sense of camaraderie with friendly competition and a tightly knit bond with each other, sharing personal stories of wives, girlfriends and their families. This, of course, adds to the believability to the characters and adds weight to the feature, especially when their lives are “on the line”.

Other notably actors include Eric Bana who plays the ops commander Erik Kristensen and Alexander Ludwig who plays the young and eager recruit Shane Patton. Rounding out the cast (in smaller minor roles) are Jerry Ferrara as marine staff sergeant Hasslert and even Marcus Lutrell himself makes a cameo appearance in the movie as an unnamed Navy Seal.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The film Lone Survivor is sort of mixed bag as Berg follows Lutrell’s source material to a point and before taking liberties here and there, leaving out some of the heart and humanity of the story and replacing it with large than life heroism. Yet, despite these changes from book to film, I personally enjoyed Lone Survivor and is a movie everyone I believe should be at least seeing once or twice. Whatever your stance on the film is, the unbridled truth of reality still remains on what real happened during the events of “Operation Red Wings”. It is truly a grievous point in the history of the U.S. Navy Seal that will forever be marred with the loss of lives, but will also be a reminder of the courage, sacrifice, and determination of the men who took part of the operation that will live on; a testament of the indomitable valor that many in the armed forces (Past, present, and future) posse. For this reason, I say this:” To Marcus Lutrell and to those who lost their lives in the undertaking of “Operation Red Wings” …. I salute you”

3.8 Out of 5 (Recommended)

Released on: january 10th, 2014, reviewed on: january 12th, 2014.

Lone Survivor is rated R for strong bloody war violence and pervasive language

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Star wars has made palpatine's clone wars plan so much darker than even george lucas imagined, luke skywalker's jedi temple on ossus was the key to palpatine's defeat after all, lone survivor succeeds at paying honor to all the men and women who have died in military service (not just seal team 10) by shining a spotlight on the horror and the bravery of war..

Adapted from the nonfiction book " Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ," by former United States Navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell, Peter Berg's Lone Survivor chronicles a tragic story of survival against terrorist forces in a mountainous region outside of Asadabad, Afghanistan. Tasked with reconnoissance in a joint military operation to take down Taliban leader Ahmad Shah and disrupt his growing militia, four Navy SEAL operatives - SO2 Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), LT Michael P. Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), SO2 Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and SO2 Matthew Axelson (Ben Foster) - set up surveillance between the Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar mountain peaks.

However, when the mission is compromised, the SEALs are forced into a difficult decision about how to proceed, and it isn't long before the Murphy and his men come under heavy fire, pursued relentlessly across the mountain region by a vast and well-armed Taliban force.

In an effort to bring Marcus Luttrell's recount of events to the big screen, Berg went through the arduous process of re-creating every single bullet wound and mountainside fall as accurately as possible - delivering one of the most intense (and subsequently draining) military movies ever filmed. Lone Survivor holds very little back, relying on real-life warfront action that few moviegoers will have seen before, and revealing just how much damage the human body (and soul) can endure. Superb performances from the cast, paired with subtle (albeit limited) characterization of the actual SEALs, ensures that Lone Survivor isn't just a violence-filled survival thriller, it's a fitting honor to the men that lost their lives during Operation Red Wings (as well as the loved ones they left behind).

Anyone familiar with Luttrell's book, the news story (which made national headlines), or the film's trailer, will have a pretty clear idea of how the Lone Survivor account plays out; however, that doesn't make the moment-to-moment action and events any less engaging. As mentioned, Berg succeeds at establishing the key players in Lone Survivor early on, with delicate and effective story arcs for each member of the team, along with an intimate look at Navy SEAL life, credo, and operations - without falling into the trap of heavy-handed military lingo and overly-macho stereotypes. Instead, Lone Survivor succeeds because its heroes are sensitive and loving men, dedicated husbands, boyfriends, and brothers who toil over paint colors for their wives - while serving as trained killers capable of enduring unbelievable physical and emotional torment. These are real people, who found themselves in a horribly real life-or-death battle.

Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, and Taylor Kitsch in 'Lone Survivor'

Still, engaging story material only goes so far in a big-screen adaption, and, thankfully, the Lone Survivor cast is packed with solid talent in even the smallest roles - including Eric Bana as LCDR Erik S. Kristensen and Jerry Ferrara as SGT Hasslert - ensuring that the character drama is as equally evocative as the gun fights. The principle players each bring a different element (and backstory) to the screen with exceptional (and stirring) performances from Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Emile Hirsch - each one successfully carrying their respective SEAL from carefree brothers, joking and teasing one another, to shattered and worn-down heroes in an impossible situation.

Foster deserves added praise for his portrayal of Axelson - with one moment that will likely haunt many viewers long after they've finished Lone Survivor . Wahlberg's work as Luttrell is equally strong - especially when the character's condition dramatically changes in the third act. No doubt, the actor has seen his fair share of cheesy (not to mention meme-able) roles, but Wahlberg continues to prove that given the right material and clear direction, he's capable of providing genuinely affecting performances - and his work in Lone Survivor is, at times, among his best.

Ben Foster as Matt 'Axe' Axelson in 'Lone Survivor'

Nevertheless, Lone Survivor is not going to be for everyone, given that it is an unrelenting recount of Operation Red Wings, and is as such beholden to the real-life tragedy. Berg manages to wrangle the step-by-step progression into a functional narrative, even managing to include a few non-American heroes, but viewers who expect to learn more about the SEALs or the larger situation they were in will find that Lone Survivor is locked to a very tight perspective. It's a claustrophobic experience that will force moviegoers to repeatedly confront the horrors of the battlefield, to the point of absolute exhaustion. Some will, no doubt, be overwhelmed by the amount of violence; for others, each bullet wound will be a harsh reminder of the kind of terrors service men and women face each day.

Either way, it's hard to fault Berg for his approach: it may not be for everyone, but Lone Survivor is a moving (and disturbing) look at the events of Operation Red Wings - and a thoughtful glimpse at the men that gave their lives for it. It's a challenging viewing experience, filled with heartbreaking scenes of tragedy, but strong performances and a sincere approach to the real-life situation (as well as some genuinely uplifting moments of humanity), make it a worthwhile one.

If nothing else, much like Luttrell's eyewitness written account, Lone Survivor succeeds at paying honor to all the men and women who have died in military service (not just SEAL Team 10) by shining a spotlight on the horror and the bravery of war.

Lone Survivor runs 121 minutes and is Rated R for strong bloody war violence and pervasive language.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below.

Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.

Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor is a dramatization of the United States Navy SEALs' Operation Red Wing, an unsuccessful military operation that aimed to track down the leader of the Taliban. The film follows the four-man SEAL team, and the danger and psychological strain they faced on their mission.

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Mark Wahlberg Explains Why The Six Billion Dollar Man Is the Only Superhero Movie on His Mind

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The 1970s superhero The Six Million Dollar Man is being revived for a new movie titled The Six Billion Dollar Man . Mark Wahlberg , who will star as the title character, recently opened up about why playing The Six Billion Dollar Man is more appealing to him than portraying a DC or Marvel superhero .

"You know, I have one superhero movie in mind, and it's The Six Billion Dollar Man , formally known as The Six Million Dollar Man, gone up due to inflation," Wahlberg joked while speaking with ComicBook.com to promote his new Netflix movie, The Union . "It's grounded, and it's plausible, real. You know, there is lots of bionics technology and science happening right now. So this is something that has all the wish fulfillment of a superhero, incredible things. "

Road House Star Joins Mark Wahlberg in New Comedy From Deadpool Writers

Road House star Daniela Melchior is set to reunite with Amazon MGM Studios for a new action-comedy movie starring Mark Wahlberg.

Wahlberg then explained that not having to "wear one of those suits" was one of the main reasons why The Six Billion Dollar Man appealed to him. "I don't have the confidence to walk around in one of those suits. Halle [Berry] goes, 'Oh you'd look great in one of those costumes,' I go, 'It's not the physical appearance, it's the mental confidence to walk out of my trailer,'" he added.

Mark Wahlberg Is Ready to Make The Six Billion Dollar Man

The Six Billion Dollar Man was first announced in 2014 with Wahlberg's Lone Survivor director Peter Berg set to helm the reboot and filming scheduled to begin in 2015. However, Berg departed the project in 2015 and was replaced by Damián Szifron ( To Catch a Killer ), with production delayed to September 2016. However, filming never began, and in December 2017, The Weinstein Company sold the film's rights to Warner Bros., who announced a mid-2019 release for The Six Billion Dollar Man in April 2018.

Unfortunately, Szifron exited the project in May 2018 over "creative differences" and by that October the remake was removed from Warner Bros.' release calendar. Szifron was eventually replaced in April 2019 by Bumblebee helmer Travis Knight, with Bill Dubuque ( Ozark ) announced to be writing the screenplay. However, it is unknown if the two are still attached to the project as of August 2024.

Mel Gibson Movie Starring Mark Wahlberg as Psychotic Hitman Gets Release Date

Mel Gibson's next film, starring Mark Wahlberg and Topher Grace, has gotten a release date.

Earlier this year while promoting the adventure movie Arthur the King , Wahlberg shared that his team had just reacquired the rights to The Six Billion Dollar Man and was optimistic that the project would begin production soon. "We've got the rights again, we're looking at making that movie - hopefully soon!" he shared. "Again, ticking clock. Thank God, it's an older guy who they feel like has some real-life experience that makes it worth it for him to be the subject of this experiment."

The Six Million Dollar Man Is a Classic '70s Show

The Six Million Dollar Man originally ran on ABC from 1973 to 1978. The classic series starred Lee Majors as Steve Austin, a NASA astronaut whose body is outfitted with six million dollars worth of bionic enhancements and replacements following a catastrophic crash. The enhancements give him several powers, including super strength, super speed, and supervision. A spin-off series, titled The Bionic Woman , ran from 1976 to 1978.

The Six Billion Dollar Man does not yet have a release date.

Source: ComicBook.com

The Six Million Dollar Man

In a classic action series, a former astronaut gains extraordinary abilities through cutting-edge bionic implants following a severe accident. As a secret agent, he uses his superhuman strength, speed, and enhanced vision to execute critical missions for the government, tackling threats both domestic and international.

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‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ Season 5 Trailer: Catastrophic Train Derailment Unleashes “Poison Cloud Of Death”

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In the upcoming fifth season, Captains Strand (Lowe) and Vega ( Gina Torres ) along with the 126 team, race into action when a catastrophic train derailment endangers several lives, including some of their own. With Judd (Jim Parrack) resigning from the 126 to take care of his recently handicapped son Wyatt (Jackson Pace), Owen must find a new lieutenant to replace Judd and has a difficult decision ahead of him when both Marjan (Natacha Karam) and Paul apply for the promotion. Tommy is ready to take the next step in her relationship, but she finds the road to happiness is filled with obstacles. On his 30 th birthday, T.K. gets a surprise visit from someone from his past that could change his and Carlos’ lives forever. Now officially husband and husband, T.K. and Carlos’ marriage is put to the test when Carlos becomes obsessed with solving his father’s murder.

9-1-1: Lone Star is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television and Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear are creators, executive producers and writers on the series. Bradley Buecker is an executive producer and directed the series premiere. Alexis Martin Woodall, Rashad Raisani, John J. Gray, Angela Bassett, Rob Lowe, Carly Soteras and Wolfe Coleman are executive producers.

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Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, locarno film festival 2024: youth (hard times), transamazonia, moon.

It’s been hot in Locarno, Switzerland. So much so that every person introducing a film has joked about the respective theater’s air conditioning being a welcomed respite to accompany the movies. This being my first time covering Locarno Film Festival, where a leopard’s roar accompanies every screening — I can only concur that this 77th edition has reduced me to a puddle of sweat looking for the nearest gelato stand to provide the kind of cold goodness that’ll reanimate me. Thankfully, the air conditioning has been the perfect aperitif to movies offering a slower, more glacial pace.

Wang Bing , the king of long cinema, has returned with the second installment in his observational “Youth” trilogy. “ Youth (Hard Times) ” is a notable improvement over “ Youth (Spring) ,” which premiered last year at the Cannes Film Festival — the third part, “Youth (Homecoming),” will premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Running 227 minutes, “ Hard Times ” feels tighter, better conceived, with clearer ties and arcs that paint a better picture of a youthful generation trapped on the margins.

Shot between 2015 and 2019, Bing, along with several other camera operators, immersed himself in the textile workshops lining the town of Zhili in the Wuxing District of Huzhou. These privately owned shops are combined spaces, housing the workers in dormitories after they’ve worked from dawn to midnight. These can be called businesses only in the sense that they produce a product. But they don’t follow any guidelines, codes or laws. Lately, there’s been a rash of owners suddenly picking up sticks and leaving their workers high and dry. All the workers can do is find another shop, somewhere else in Zhili that maybe pays close to what they were earning. But as we see throughout Bing’s epic-length vérité documentary, even the rates that are promised by sweatshop owners are dangerously flexible.

Most of the workers we see on screen hail from Anhui province, a mostly rural area that contrasts greatly from the grimy concrete edifices that populate the blocks often doubling as landfills. Surrounded by garbage and humming machines, the subjects build out a life: joking, dating, debating, and fighting for extra wages from their penny-pinching shop owners. In makeshift unions they negotiate at what rate they’ll make the next fast fashion, and they struggle to recoup their wages when they lose their paybook. Each instance of exploitation builds on the other, creating a single unit with a shared story of survival until the new year when they can return home before the next season. With a promise of a new setting — these workers’ hometowns — on top of this beautifully captured slice of humanity, Bing makes it attractive for one to finish the journey he started.

This is admittedly a broad comparison, but if you can imagine “ The Mosquito Coast ” told from Reverend Spellgood’s perspective, you’d probably come somewhat close to “ Transamazonia ,” South African director Pia Marais’ quiet Amazon-set mood piece. Marais’ film similarly deconstructs godlike figures, questions the reality of miracles, and sees the wiser child learn that their father is all bunk.

It begins and thrives through ambiguity. The opening shot pushes in on two upturned seats in the middle of a humid, foggy jungle. An unconscious girl, the lone survivor of a plane crash, is covered in mud and blood. She is carried to safety by an Indigenous man of the Iruaté tribe, where she is claimed by her father: Lawrence Byrne (Jeremy Xido). Flash forward nine years, and Lawrence and his daughter Rebecca (a deceptively brilliant Helena Zengel ) are operating a church for the locals under the promise that Rebecca, a literal miracle child, can heal the sick, wounded, and dispirited. They’ve got a profitable gig going until sawmill owner Artur Alves (Rômulo Braga) appears begging for help for his wife, who's been in a coma for ages. If Rebecca can awaken his wife, he promises to depart the jungle, where his company is in a violent dispute with the displaced Iruaté people.

Lit in cool tones by D.P. Mathieu De Montgrand, this gorgeously mounted film prides itself on its sense of mystery: We never learn how Rebecca survived that plane crash or whether she performs miracles or is just the recipient of dumb luck. For a time, we don’t even know why Lawrence is so hellbent on pushing Rebecca to save Artur’s wife. Because of those fissures, Marais keeps one from simply labeling Rebecca a white savior. How can she fit the stereotype if we’re not actually sure she has saved anyone? When a nurse named Denise ( Sabine Timoteo ) arrives, the previously tranquil relationship between father and daughter is further imbalanced, causing the daughter, probably for the first time in her life, to question her faith in the godlike figure that is her father.

These wonderful components are sometimes undone by the outside gaze on the indigenous tribe and by the unconscionable decision by the Marais and her screenwriters to tie together every loose thread in the final ten minutes in a film that works because of its open-endedness. Despite those missteps, there’s enough mystique in “Transamazonia” to make it spellbinding and haunting.

There’s nothing worse than seeing a great film lurking underneath the tragically flawed result. Such is the case with “ Moon ,” the Austrian-Kurdish writer/director Kurdwin Ayub’s slow-burn Jordan-set thriller. While many films, particularly the low-budget action kind, have rendered the washed-up MMA fighter into a cliche — Ayub takes a different route. Having seemingly lost the will to fight, Sarah (Florentina Holzinger), is now training others. Most of her clients aren’t serious. They’re taking classes because MMA is trendy. The terse, monotone Sarah is also unwilling to play along. Very nearly broke, Sarah takes an odd offer: The son of a wealthy Jordanian family wants to hire Sarah to train his three younger sisters. In return, not only will she be handsomely compensated. She’ll also stay in a luxe fully paid hotel room complete with a personal driver, who will take her to the family’s far-flung compound.

When Sarah arrives, however, it’s not altogether clear that these three young women — Fatima (Celina Sarhan), Nour (Andria Tayeh), and Schaima (Nagham Abu Baker) — are actually interested in MMA. There are several other red flags: Sarah is required to sign an NDA, forbidden from venturing to the home’s second floor or going into the girls’ rooms, also cell phone use isn’t permitted for the girls, and the house lacks WiFi. Soon, Sarah begins to investigate and finds a woman yelling for help behind a locked door, the girls ask to use her phone for IG, disturbing videos arise and rumors about the family from the locals swirl. The appearance of violence creates a telling tension: Sarah is here to teach self-defense and empowerment but hesitates to defend or empower her pupils.

Ayub pulls those feelings of hopelessness, malaise, and regret tight, making them so taut she upends our expectations until she doesn’t. The Arab world here is projected as purely oppressive and by the final frame Sarah, the white outsider, is ultimately reimagined as a savior speeding to the rescue. It's an unfortunate slip up by Ayub. In trying to land a sharp emotional gut punch on the audience, she squanders the provocative body blows that got us to this point.

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the New York Times , IndieWire , and Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the Los Angeles Times , and Rolling Stone about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

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Kim kahana, stuntman who starred in ‘danger island’ and doubled for charles bronson, dies at 94.

He played Chongo on the Saturday morning kids show and worked in ‘Cool Hand Luke,’ ‘The Dirty Dozen,’ ‘Planet of the Apes,’ ‘Passenger 57’ and more.

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Kim Kahana, the stunt performer, teacher, coordinator and war hero who played Chongo on the kids show Danger Island and doubled for Charles Bronson in several action films, has died. He was 94.

Kahana died Monday of natural causes at his home in Groveland, Florida, his wife, Sandy Kahana, told The Hollywood Reporter .

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COMMENTS

Lone Survivor movie review & film summary (2013)
Powered by JustWatch. "Lone Survivor" burns with the fever of a passion project. Writer-director Peter Berg's gratitude to United States servicemen for all their sacrifice comes through viscerally, from first frame to last. The film opens with a long montage of real-life Navy SEALs in training and ends with a slide show of SEALs and soldiers ...
Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor is an amazing war film that explores the idea of brotherhood and sacrifice in some of the best ways we've ever seen.
Lone Survivor: Film Review
Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Emile Hirsch star in director Peter Berg's adaptation of the war memoir by ex-Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.
Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor resembles an extended recruitment advert for the first half and a snoozily detached war movie for the second - which is fitting because that's what it is.
Lone Survivor Movie Review
Brutal, powerful, ultimately moving true Navy SEAL story. Read Common Sense Media's Lone Survivor review, age rating, and parents guide.
Lone Survivor (2013)
Lone Survivor: Directed by Peter Berg. With Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster. Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
'Lone Survivor' Movie Review
What to say about a war film whose outcome is evident in the title? In the case of Lone Survivor, you commend the outstanding job done by writer-director Peter Berg in telling the remarkable true ...
Lone Survivor (2013)
At its core, Lone Survivor is an American war film. The team members are heroes, the Taliban are enemies, and the heroes are able to fight on like in video games or movies. For the opening 40 minutes, it is a somewhat cheesy show of soldiers bravado and training, but it works.
Film Review: 'Lone Survivor'
Film Review: 'Lone Survivor' Peter Berg's scorching, often unbearably brutal account of a doomed 2005 military mission in Afghanistan is perhaps the most grueling and sustained American combat ...
Lone Survivor Review
Verdict Lone Survivor director Peter Berg puts the emphasis on action and veneration rather than dramatic exploration and nuance in this fact-based Navy SEALs film.
Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor is a cinematic recounting of a real-life failed U.S. military operation. It took place in the mountainous Kunar Province of Afghanistan in June of 2005 and has since been called the worst tragedy in the history of the Navy SEALs―ultimately claiming the lives of 19 Americans. Film director Peter Berg takes that tragic scenario ...
Lone Survivor
Read an in-depth review and critical analysis of Lone Survivor by film critic Brian Eggert on Deep Focus Review.
Lone Survivor Review
Read the Empire Movie review of Lone Survivor. A severe portrait of fortitude under extreme pressure, somewhat marred by blinkered politics....
Movie Review
The fact-based film about four Navy SEALS in Afghanistan is resolutely anti-heroic until the very end, when triumphalism creeps in.
Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor is a 2013 American biographical war film based on the 2007 nonfiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson. Set during the war in Afghanistan, it dramatizes the unsuccessful United States Navy SEALs counter-insurgent mission Operation Red Wings, during which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance ...
Movie Review: 'Lone Survivor'
Movie Review: 'Lone Survivor'. Gabe Johnson • January 3, 2014. The Times critic A. O. Scott reviews "Lone Survivor."
Lone Survivor
The simplicity of Lone Survivor eventually becomes a handicap, because after a certain point, the film becomes just one long battle sequence, lacking narrative ebb and flow.
Lone Survivor
For Your Consideration ads taken out by Universal on behalf of Peter Berg 's Lone Survivor leaned heavily on a quote by Grantland and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons, calling the movie "the most ...
The True Story Of Lone Survivor Explained
Summary "Lone Survivor" is a highly successful war film based on a true story, retelling Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan. The film accurately portrays the intense conflict during Operation Red Wings, from the deaths of the Navy SEALs involved to the survival of Marcus Luttrell. Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor of the operation, endured injuries and continued his military service before ...
Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor (United States, 2013) January 07, 2014. A movie review by James Berardinelli. In the mountains of Afghanistan, one man, injured and bleeding, struggles against impossible odds to stay alive. It's at this point that the focus of Peter Berg's Lone Survivor shifts from that of a war movie to that of a tale of survival.
Review: Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor proofs itself against criticism by hiding behind its protagonists; the physicality of its filmmaking is but a pretext for yet another gargantuan, subliminal recruitment ad. When pogo-sticking from the intense shallow focus of the aforementioned gundown to a lens-flared landscape shot of Kitsch being ripped apart by bullets while ...
Lone Survivor Review
The film Lone Survivor is sort of mixed bag as Berg follows Lutrell's source material to a point and before taking liberties here and there, leaving out some of the heart and humanity of the story and replacing it with large than life heroism. Yet, despite these changes from book to film, I personally enjoyed Lone Survivor and is a movie ...
'Lone Survivor' Review
Lone Survivor succeeds at paying honor to all the men and women who have died in military service (not just SEAL Team 10) by shining a spotlight on the horror and the bravery of war. Adapted from the nonfiction book " Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ," by former United States Navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell, Peter Berg's Lone Survivor ...
Every War Movie Fan Needs To Watch These 10 Navy SEAL Movies At ...
We're kicking off our list of the best Navy SEAL-related movies with Lone Survivor (2013). Starring Mark Wahlberg, the film is a dramatization of the book of the same name, which covers the events ...
Every Alien Movie, Ranked Worst to Best
Here, the crew of the Covenant (played by Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston, and Danny McBride) encounter android David, the lone survivor of the failed Prometheus mission, and his android counterpart Walter (both played by Michael Fassbender).
Mark Wahlberg Explains Why The Six Billion Dollar Man Is the Only ...
The Six Billion Dollar Man was first announced in 2014 with Wahlberg's Lone Survivor director Peter Berg set to helm the reboot and filming scheduled to begin in 2015. ... Movie Reviews TV Reviews 2:36. RETRO REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Focuses on Character Amongst Chaos Watchmen Chapter 1 Review: The Animated Movie Is ...
'9-1-1: Lone Star' Season 5 Trailer Sees A "Poison Cloud Of Death"
Fox released the first trailer Monday for the fifth season of 9-1-1: Lone Star, which premieres September 23 on the network and next day on Hulu.
Locarno Film Festival 2024: Youth (Hard Times), Transamazonia, Moon
It begins and thrives through ambiguity. The opening shot pushes in on two upturned seats in the middle of a humid, foggy jungle. An unconscious girl, the lone survivor of a plane crash, is covered in mud and blood. She is carried to safety by an Indigenous man of the Iruaté tribe, where she is claimed by her father: Lawrence Byrne (Jeremy Xido).
Kim Kahana Dead: Stuntman, 'Danger Island' Actor Was 94
Kim Kahana, the stunt performer and teacher who played Chongo on the kids show Danger Island and doubled for Charles Bronson in films, has died at 94.
'The Last Front' Review: Iain Glen WWI Drama Is Effectively ...
Iain Glen stars in 'The Last Front,' an old-school but effective World War I drama about German soldiers invading a Belgian village.

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Lone Survivor

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