This is a strange movie to review. As Roger Ebert once said, "It plays out more as a recruitment film, than anything else." And I have to agree with him, when noting too, that whilst generally being critically panned, it proved to be popular with (especially) the American public and ended up being a commercial hit.
Act of Valor is like a big budget version of those acted recreations, you may frequently see in certain documentaries. The film's content is made up of various, supposedly true Navy Seal episodes, that have been woven and edited together in an overall fictional storyline, that features 2 main, interconnected episodes. The distinguishing positive or negative feature of the movie, depending on your viewpoint, is that the lead roles are taken by career Seals and not professional actors. Clint Eastwood, a usually very perceptive director, tried a similar gambit in his 2017 film 15:17 to Paris. It failed miserably in my view and the viewing public and critics generally agreed. Valor has greater success with the experiment, though I feel it's mainly due to the expansive action set pieces and deployment of military hardware, which all look incredibly realistic. This highlights the support of the Defence Department in the making of the film, where it would seem no expense was spared in promoting US Defence's role in the War on Terror. It follows then, that Act of Valor is highly reverential, rather than down to earth, in its depiction of its Seal characters. But it must be said, that when these characters interact with one another, cheesiness and woodenness are very much on display.
The supporting (professional) cast do their best in what are generally stereotypical perspectives of terrorists, cartel lords and soldiers and stoic military wives. And really for a film of this nature the production standards can't really be faulted. Interestingly in the big action scenes, the influence of gamer videos such as Call of Duty is all pervasive.
I've given it 6/10, but have to emphasise that this is primarily due to the realism on show in the action and technical scenes. The jingoistic and propagandrist tone of the film failed to impress me.
Act of Valor is like a big budget version of those acted recreations, you may frequently see in certain documentaries. The film's content is made up of various, supposedly true Navy Seal episodes, that have been woven and edited together in an overall fictional storyline, that features 2 main, interconnected episodes. The distinguishing positive or negative feature of the movie, depending on your viewpoint, is that the lead roles are taken by career Seals and not professional actors. Clint Eastwood, a usually very perceptive director, tried a similar gambit in his 2017 film 15:17 to Paris. It failed miserably in my view and the viewing public and critics generally agreed. Valor has greater success with the experiment, though I feel it's mainly due to the expansive action set pieces and deployment of military hardware, which all look incredibly realistic. This highlights the support of the Defence Department in the making of the film, where it would seem no expense was spared in promoting US Defence's role in the War on Terror. It follows then, that Act of Valor is highly reverential, rather than down to earth, in its depiction of its Seal characters. But it must be said, that when these characters interact with one another, cheesiness and woodenness are very much on display.
The supporting (professional) cast do their best in what are generally stereotypical perspectives of terrorists, cartel lords and soldiers and stoic military wives. And really for a film of this nature the production standards can't really be faulted. Interestingly in the big action scenes, the influence of gamer videos such as Call of Duty is all pervasive.
I've given it 6/10, but have to emphasise that this is primarily due to the realism on show in the action and technical scenes. The jingoistic and propagandrist tone of the film failed to impress me.