Lone Survivor 2013
This movie got pretty decent reviews when it came out in 2013 and I came close to buying it eventually as the price of the blu-ray came down, but never did get it. Recently I was able to borrow a digital copy using a Movies Anywhere Screen Pass. The events of the movie happened fairly early in the Afghan war, 2005, and I don’t think it is a spoiler (based on the title) to say it did not go well for the US. One reviewer said it is “war porn” which I think is why I never bought the movie, but I have enjoyed similar movies like Black Hawk Down and The Outpost. While the action and story are good, my biggest problem with the movie is that it is not an accurate portrayal of events, whereas I think the other two movies were more accurate. Part of the reason you enjoy a movie like this is it puts you in the shoes of the soldiers dealing with real life events. Rather than give anything away, I would say watch the movie and then read the Wikipedia article. The article will spoil the movie, but you have to see the movie to see how critical the departure from true events is. A few of the big things in the movie really did happen, but a lot of the rest is disputed. It takes a while for the movie to really get moving, but rather than get to know the characters or understand what they are doing, the setup focuses on SEAL training, a new guy (who doesn’t even go on the mission) and girls back home. It would have been good to know that one of the characters was a medic, or which character was the team leader. With only four characters on the team, it seems like it would have been easy to establish those characters. Most of the second half is the big battle and then a little of what happened just after the battle. It moves pretty quickly and definitely keeps your attention, but given that it is mostly made up, then, yes, it is war porn. It is tough to watch, as expected, but I think a very major part of the story isn’t given proportional weight, which I will put in a spoiler since it is in the movie. I feel like you do get some idea of how awful it is to be in a losing battle, so that’s something. There was another more successful mission after this one called Whalers that seems like it would be a good sequel even though there wouldn’t have been many of the same people.
Written: 11 Feb 2021