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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Lone Survivor

I really wasn't expecting ANYTHING from this movie. I didn't even want to go to the movies during January and February, there's nothing but crap out. Everyone and their mom knows that all the shelved movies come out around this time because no one is going to the theater anyhow. I really thought Lone Survivor would be the war movie we have seen a million times and would be swept under the rug quickly.

You know what, the first half was exactly that. I kept rolling my eyes at how bad it was. Let's start with the beginning credits showing real footage of Navy SEALs training. Why did they have this? If you want to make a documentary, make documentary. Don't show real footage of these men working really hard during training and then cut to actors playing pretend. It seemed very pretentious and ill-fitting. This time could have been made for the actual first 10 minutes of the movie when it sets were it takes place and the characters. The rest of it goes through many cliches. Product placement, guys hanging around making bad jokes, saying swear words were they don't belong, going through the "all Arabs are terrorists" stereotype. On top of that it went through a slow pace without any good character development. I don't feel like we really got to know the characters before they went on the mission. I wanted this movie to be over with.

By the time we get to the middle it really overcomes all of that. Things get really damn good. Things take a dramatic, action-packed turn really hard. These guys are getting shot at, falling down mountains (a lot), hitting their heads on rocks and plenty of emotional turmoil. Rather than afterward showing them still able to walk, kick ass with only a scratch on their head, they are covered in blood, barely able to move and still pressing on. I really liked the relationship between the villager and Marky Mark's character and got a little teary at the ending. I don't want to spoil it but it is pretty powerful.

I sort of still didn't like that this was pretty much a "fishing for an Oscar" project for Marky Mark and it was exploiting a true story. It was still a good one regardless with a nice theme. There's plenty of cringe moments but could have used more character and  a new first act.






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