Osiris3657

Director: Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights creator/producer, Hancock, and *gulp* Battleship). Studio would not finance this picture without him directing Battleship.
Screenplay: Peter Berg

Cast:
Mark Wahlberg (as the lead Marcus Luttrell)
Taylor Kitsch
Eric Bana
Ben Foster

Plot: Based on SEAL Team 10's failed mission: Operation Red Wing on June 28, 2005, to capture or kill a notorious Taliban leader.

Production Details: Filmed in New Mexico 2012 for an estimated $50M
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This is one of the most incredible tales of survival I've had the pleasure of reading. Amazing book. I rarely re-read books, but I did for this one.

GoldenJCJ

Hmm, I'll wait for a trailer before I decide whether this could be worth seeing but Taylor Kitsch can't have that many bombs in row, can he? I mean, can he?

dex14

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TimeandTide

Thanks for posting that trailer. Read the book a few months ago but had no idea it was being made into a film.

Wasn't a huge fan of the writing (I gave it 3/5 stars on Good Reads), but the story of that SEAL team is incredible. Really hope the film captures the tragedy, violence, sacrifice, and heroism of the ordeal. Trailer looks promising.

Osiris3657

Looks good enough, I'll check it out.

Tuan Jim

Just read the DVD Talk review. Not sure what to think yet. I loved the book. I know they did an early screening on board the USS Michael Murphy - last month I think - and one of the sailors on my ship had a chance to see it - he thought it was really well done.

I'll probably check it out though - Rotten Tomatoes is leaning towards the positive end.

OldBoy

i just wish they wouldn't use a spoiler in the title

Supermallet

You lost me at Peter Berg.

Why So Blu?

My sister read the book and said it was cool. I have not read Peter Berg's screenplay or seen the flick. I hear (the review says it too) that it's jingoism at its finest. I'll wait for the BD and rent it.

Hokeyboy

Aye, this. What, was Antoine Fuqua not available?

Why So Blu?

No. Fuqua is prepping London Has Fallen.

Hokeyboy

Fuqua is prepping another gooey bowel movement? Oh joy...

Why So Blu?

He's prepping the sequel to the "true" Die Hard movie that should have been.

DJariya

I have an official Academy screener DVD of this from one of my friends who is in the art guild union. Will try to watch it at some point this week.

TimeandTide

I read the book and was riveted by its story, but it frequently digresses into anti-Obama rants and Toby Keith-ish, "America, hell yeah!" jingoism. Was hoping the survivor's politics would be left out of the film because his story is incredible. Still a Day One watch for me.

Mr. Cinema

I'm planning to see this on Sunday. It's got a 72% RT rating.

DJariya

Saw this 2 nights ago. Got an Academy awards screener from a friend, who is a member the art guild, and watched it at home.

I liked it a lot. I know DVD Talk wasn't very fond of it, but I though it was a pretty well made and gritty war movie. It's unfortunate that the actual mission this film was based on resulted in so many American casualties, but I thought Peter Berg did a good job portraying the events that led up to and after the attack. The cast, including Wahlberg, IMO is mostly B-list actors, but that didn't really matter for this film. I thought the whole purpose was to chronicle the events of the mission and shoot it with as much physical realism as possible.

I'd give this a solid B+

kurupt

Not a Ben Foster fan, as I'm not a fan of overacting, however I'm pretty intrigued by the trailer. I'll probably check it out.

Osiris3657

I have a slightly different perspective on this as I think I'm the only book reader (on this forum) who's seen it so far.

This is a minor nitpick, but out of the 4 actors playing the SEAL team, Emile Hirsch really felt out of place compared to the others. Hirsch is so small and slight of build, and still has such a baby face that it occasionally took me out of the movie. I never got the impression that he was a hardened SEAL, only some kid playing war. An actor is supposed to give you the impression that they really are the character they are playing and Hirsch just doesn't fit this character's part. His acting was solid though.

Anyway as to the movie itself....I dug it. The action scenes are very well shot. Plenty of tension throughout. Plenty of blood flying for the gorehounds.

This movie has been criticized by some as being too "America, fuck yeah!", but I didn't think so. Sure, the patriotism is strong in this one but not overly so.

I was disappointed (but I don't think this is a criticism) that the movie skipped a large portion of Lutrell's escape and evasion of the Taliban troops. Lutrell broke his back during the 2nd fall down the mountain and literally dragged himself for miles over a couple days while evading the Taliban. The Taliban sent scouts/assassins ahead of the main group and Lutrell killed them..while he was fucking paralyzed from the waist down.
I think including all this would have made the movie even more intense and exciting.

Anyway I'm doing my best to judge the movie by itself rather than comparing it to the book. On its own, the movie is a thrilling action picture with great performances. I recommend it.

Yavin

I'd give this a solid 4 out of 5. I didn't think it was overly patriotic either. It was just as patriotic as you'd expect this type of film to be (or has to be), and it put a good deal of emphasis on the humanity of the story as well. Action scenes were very solid (the sound editing especially). Comparing it to Black Hawk Down and 127 Hours seems about right to me.

I've posted my full review of the film here.

candyrocket786

Enjoyed but felt it couldve benefited from an extra hour.

islandclaws

I'll echo other sentiments in here: really dug the film, it was very intense and did a great job of re-telling the story without the need for Hollywood b.s. or overt patriotism. I haven't read the book, but I wish they'd included what Osiris3657 mentioned up above. Could have added even more to what was already a solid film. Those men were in such a fucked up situation, and to think anyone survived is pretty miraculous.

I was surprised the real Lutrell got such a beefy cameo.

Ketamine

Incredible movie. Haven't had a movie make me feel so much emotion in a long time. Was on edge of my seat the entire movie though from the start of the movie I knew how it was going to end. Hard to imagine what these men were going through in this situation.

MLBFan24

Loved this movie. Kinda teared up at the end when the real pictures appeared. Back in 2005, I was in summer school at college just studying away, and these guys were in hell doing all this for us. Much respect.

Listening to the soundtrack now...

Coral

I thought the cheese factor was pretty high on this one. I believe the general premise of the film is true, but it's just done in the over-the-top Hollywood fashion.

The deaths were dramatically overdone to the point of being laughable. And like any typical action film, the "good guys" are great shots, and the "bad guys" are horrible... and the Afghan guy who helps Walhberg's character winds up in a one-on-one fight with the big baddie Taliban guy. Ugh.