I don't know what possessed me to deliberately put this at the top of my queue right after The Lost Patrol, another war movie with, well, only one survivor. At least this time, we get fair warning on that score.
In 2005, four Navy SEALs (Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster) are assigned to capture warlord Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami) in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, where radio signals are unreliable. When civilians happen upon them, they abort their stealth mission and try to get back to safety before the Taliban shows up in force. You already know they fail that too, and things don't go well for the first rescuers.
I'm grateful for the third act. Just when I was starting to think this was yet another movie in which every Middle Easterner was an enemy to the protagonists, title character Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg) meets friendlies from a village whose code of honor is at odds with the Taliban. He takes a while not to be a paranoid jerk to them, but he sure becomes grateful.
In truth, I almost see more variation in the Afghans than in the Americans. Early scenes made it difficult for me to tell one SEAL from another. They all act macho and crass, and the four in question are all brunet, bearded Anglos. If the story weren't based on true events, you can bet there'd be more diversity. The main behavioral differences are in whether they vote to kill the early witnesses and why. I'm not the only reviewer to find characterization the biggest weakness herein.
Of course, from a certain standpoint, it may be better not to know them very well. Not only do most of them die (and even Marcus flatlines temporarily); their numerous pre-death injuries look especially painful, prolonged, and messy. I'm caught between respecting the realism and feeling like it's just short of another Fury.
That's putting aside the tragic aspect that didn't exist in 2013: The Taliban has since won the war as far as the U.S. is concerned. What did these honored soldiers really die for?
As I understand it, the biggest liberty taken is with the time frame: The real fight lasted five days. Also, I was right to think a rattlesnake looked out of place in Afhanistan. As for the autobiography of which this film is an adaptation, the most disputed part is how many insurgents were involved and killed.
If you feel like watching something popular with military types, perhaps on Memorial Day weekend, you could do worse than LS. Just don't expect it to be fun.
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