Act of Valor

We all have seen war films many times in our lives, but how many war films have you seen that has many of the lead stars as actual Navy SEALs using life ammo in the film? Guess all you want, but I'd say the answer would be definite NONE! Well, this is what one gets with "Act of Valor".

An unprecedented blend of real life heroism and original filmmaking, this is the story of active duty Navy SEALs including (Rorke, Michael, Dave, Ajay, Sonny, Ray, Van. O, and Weimy), as they confront and attack global terrorism with a vengeance. As it states at the beginning of the film, based on true stories of acts of valor, the film combines stunning combat sequences, up-to-the minute battlefield technology and heart pounding emotion for the ultimate adventure.

"Act of Valor" takes the audience deep into the secretive world of the most elite, highly trained group of soldiers in the modern world. When the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative, Agent Morales (Roselyn Sanchez) leads to the discovery of a deadly terrorist plot against the U.S., a team of SEALs is dispatched on a worldwide manhunt of Christo (Alex Veadov) and Shabal (Jason Cottle) which they received through CIA intel. As these brave men of Bandito Platoon race to stop a coordinated attack that could kill and wound thousands of American civilians, they must balance their commitment to country, team and their families back home. One successful mission leads to another deadly terrorist plot that has them practically circling the globe all to protect their country.

This was intensely well paced by directors, Mike 'Mouse' McCoy and Scott Waugh and amazingly well written by Kurt Johnstad ("300" '06). All these guys are younger and with that, do not have a tremendous amount of experience, but trust me, after viewing this, they will get more work their way.

This was shot by veteran cinematographer, Shane Hurlbut, asc ("Crazy/Beautiful" '01, "Drumline" '02, "11:14" '03, "Into the Blue" '05, "We Are Marshall" '06, "Semi-Pro" '08, "Swing Vote" '08, "Terminator Salvation" '09). As mentioned above, this was shot using live ammo, so for Hurlbut to be put under the gun, excuse the pun, to have to shoot this under all kinds of weather conditions, and the stress of it, he also had the added problem of painstakingly shooting this with real gunfire. This is a consummate pro.

Mind you, the acting isn't great by these Navy SEALs, but you already know this before you walk into the theater. This film was not made for the acting,although even the acting wasn't awful, it just wasn't great. But to see these real SEALs doing what they do best is simply awesome. It makes you appreciate what others do so you can be free.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                        Rated: R                          111min.