Survive at all costs

Lone Survivor

Director: Peter Berg Writers: Peter Berg, Marcus Luttrell (book), Patrick Robinson (book) Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Eric Foster, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana, Alexander Ludwig Runtime: 121 minutes Certification: 15

Even those with an entirely understandable objection to Hollywood’s never-ending, contrived war films ramming American patriotism down everyone’s throats should check out Peter Berg’s latest modern day military drama. It is turning out to be one of the more financially successful contemporary war films, after the less than stellar efforts of The Kingdom, The Hurt Locker, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, The Messenger amongst others. Lone Survivor has a broad range of appeal. It is an intense, action-packed vehicle that goes above and beyond, giving its audience a lot more than the expected material. The set-up is simple: after a montage of United States Navy SEALs being put through all sorts of tough, gruelling army training to be turned into the toughest fighters, we see four SEALs embarking on a recon mission to capture and kill a notoriously violent Taliban leader. There is a fair amount of build-up before the four are dropped into the Afghan wilderness. Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and Matthew Axelson (Ben Foster) clearly share a tight bond and even within the relatively brief scenes designated to develop each character, the writing ensures that they all stand out within the group, all of them with their own individual strengths to contribute to the unit as a whole.

Their mission should have been a simple one, and yet a chance encounter threatens to unravel the entire operation. The unit encounters harmless goat herders from the village where their target is hiding out. Do they kill these unarmed civilians to not jeopardise their mission? Do they let them all go in accordance to the Rules of Engagement and morality in combat? There is intense debate between the four of them, as there no doubt would be some heated argument amongst audience members too, but in the end the prisoners are set free, which triggers deadly consequences. With the Taliban alerted, the four have no choice but to retreat and call for back-up. But military support is virtually impossible when their communications equipment fails to work in the harsh, wild terrains. Ultimately they are left to fend for themselves; heavily outnumbered and disadvantaged, about to face the never-ending, relentless action scenes of hardcore, adrenaline-fuelled combat.

It starts off simply and swimmingly enough for the Americans, with their high-tech weapons loaded and picking off one bad guy at a time, but soon they are forced to take cover and start jumping into rocks and valleys to escape the incoming hail of bullets. Every loud horrific thud, crush, crunch and bang plays a huge part in portraying an intimate, horrendously realistic, tense, continuous scene of unflinching bloody, gore-filled action that never holds back. When people are shot, we see the wounds. There is a lot of blood, torn flesh, and even some sustained looks at the injuries too. When there are broken bones, they stick out and cause immense pain. There is nothing neat or slick about how the action develops, and the film is all the better for it. As the title suggests, there are deaths, a lot of them dragged out and given the slow-motion treatment to bring out the tragedy. Possibly the only moments where the film slows down, they provide much-needed breathing space from the fierce, unyielding shoot-outs. Is the film pro-American? Why not. But the film tries its hardest to hold back on that. It’s not an unbiased film by any means, but it at least steers clear from overly glorified heroism. Pro-military? Sure. But it’s more than that. It’s pro-humanity. Pro-camaraderie and brotherhood. These men were brothers in arms, they were trained to never give up under any circumstances and yes it does sound corny, but given the time we have spent with the soldiers over the past couple of hours, the personal angle the film strives to achieve is not only commendable but highly worthwhile. Performance-wise, the four men are outstanding. Particularly impressive is Foster who, covered in all sorts of cuts, bruises and wounds, brings out more energy and ferocity as the film carries on.

It’s incredibly well-structured, and from start to finish by focussing on the tough challenges these men face, there is an enormous sense of authentic excitement that lasts the whole way through.