I couldn’t tell if this was a movie that was so bad that it appeared to be propaganda, or if it was propaganda passed off as a bad movie.
“Act of Valor” shows the before, after and in between of the Navy SEAL commercials. It had so much potential: a film casting real, active members of our nation’s premier special forces unit, which showed the contents of their mission and real acts of valor.
What actually appeared on screen was poor in all departments: acting, directing and writing. The film was bereft of any human attachment. I’ll give the SEALs some credit; acting is not mission critical for them, so to put them up to high standards would be unfair.
Although some earlier scenes of the movie where the soldiers interacted with their families showed sincerity, most of their acting seemed forced.
Not that they had much to work with since the lines given to them were horrible. When not saving the world from terrorists, “Act of Valor” spends its downtime trying to build some sort of emotional connection to two of the film’s main characters. That is, if you could say that the movie had any “main” characters in the first place.
Less than a quarter of the movie is spent, in any way, on character development. Instead what you’re given is the SEALs being taken from one mission to the next, and maybe this is for the best. The writing was so unpleasant that to even think about having to sit through more than seven minutes of dialogue would make me cringe.
The only redeeming parts are the action sequences. On their forays into enemy territory, you’re shown the different tactics and technology employed, which is solidly entertaining if sometimes over the top. SEALs are air dropped into the Columbian jungle on a rescue mission and make a quick stop in a nuclear submarine before gathering intel in East Africa.
These parts are supposedly realistic. The SEALs were unhappy with the way they were being portrayed, so they were invited to play the characters themselves.
If the SEALs really are unstoppable war beasts, then I guess they weren’t far off. The only SEAL I know was an absolute legend on my high school team for his savagery, so who knows.
Whether I’d recommend that you see this movie or not depends on what you’re trying to get out of the experience. If you’re looking for some kind of catharsis, you won’t find it here. At an hour and forty-five minutes, you’re kept waiting and trying to stay awake until the next action sequence.
If you don’t really care about seeing the next Oscar worthy performance and you just want raw action, I’d say give it a shot.
“Act of Valor” runs on pure, chest-beating American nationalism. So take it with a grain a salt, dumb yourself down a little bit and enjoy the movie.
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