Lone Survivor Movie Review

The ‘Lone Survivor’ is yet again another film based on a true story. It’s gritty, but lacks any sense of drama or character development and is hindered by its simplistic and limited script.

The film focuses on a group of Navy Seals who embark on a recon mission is a remote region of Afghanistan, they are soon ambushed by Taliban and only one survives. This sounds incredibly simplistic and that is what the film is. Peter Berg makes no effort to go delve deep into this unfortunate event, instead we get a film which is fixated upon the brutality and violence of what happens, so much so that any motive to convey emotion is reduced to next to nothing. 

Mark Wahlberg is not a fault for what is an incredibly average film, he does what is required and he remained faithful to his director. The acting is not at all bad, although Eric Bana’s talent seems wasted and that is a shame. The plot hasn’t got much to do with him, but there could have been more of a back story or Bana’s character weaved in more to the central plot. I understand that this was a true story and that the source material couldn’t be altered to an extent where it becomes fiction, but there should have been more of a character framework and less of the gratuitous violence.

My biggest issue with the film is it’s over-the-top action sequence which lasts around 30 minutes. It’s fun to watch for about 5 minutes, but after that it becomes ploddy and incredibly dull. I understand Peter Berg’s motive to show the gritty events which actually took place and how we are supposed to sympathize with the protagonist as he is slowly left to fend of his enemies by himself, but I feel none of this. This film prides it action sequence over its story telling and that is the largest flaw this film has. If the action sequence was condensed and there was more attention upon the villagers or this mans struggle then the film would have been a lot better and pleasantly shorter. For me the title of the films is somewhat misleading, there is no denying he was a lone survivor, but the film doesn’t take enough time to show this. The script is at fault here, we didn’t see enough of Mark Wahlberg’s characters struggle and his survival story doesn’t seem heroic enough. This is by no means a comment on the actual event, it is a comment upon the lackluster filming which failed to encapsulate the events justly. With this is mind, the battle sequence deserves some recognition for its brilliant cinematography.

Unfortunately this film is not fun, nor is it harrowing or moving account about the survival of a brave individual. It’s not bad, it merely fails to achieve what it set out to do. The underlying issue with the film is it’s decision to prioritize the action over the character. It feels like a feature length army advert, it’s American jingoism at its finest.