When I grow up, I want to be a Navy SEAL.
You guessed it, I saw the movie Act of Valor recently, which is easily the best hour and a half recruitment video the military could have ever wished for. If the Navy and Army don’t see a thirty percent jump in enlistments in the next year, I’ll eat frog legs. (Frog legs, hehe, get it? Mmmkay, bad joke *rolls eyes at self*.)
Put quite simply, this movie will not disappointment anyone who enjoys action, explosions, and a healthy dose of patriotic seasoning (even on their frog legs). Act of Valor offers not only these usual genre standbys, but also takes authenticity in moviemaking to an unprecedented level. By now, most everyone interested enough in the film to be reading a review of it knows that the main characters are all real active duty SEALs, and that they filmed much of the movie using live and battlefield-current munitions. Which, of course, is what made the whole thing so damn good.
[Side story: the main weapon the SEALs carried throughout the movie is the M4 rifle, which was just coming into wide use back in 1998 when I got out of the Army. I had to ask a gun-nut friend if that was what it was because the ones carried in the film were heavily bedecked with different types of sights, scopes, stocks, camouflage, etc., which, as I understand it, are options each special operations soldier gets to personally decide on. If I ever need to accessorize an M4 (and who doesn't at some point need to?), I believe I might go with this feature.]
I have to admit, however, that this level of realism had an unexpected effect. It was eerie and dark, close enough to reality that it actually made me uncomfortable. In some scenes, it felt more like witnessing real footage from a terrorist attack; the opening scene was particularly disturbing. The blood, the splatters, the explosions, and the SEALs’/actors’ calibrated precision—knowing that these experiences aren’t far from the truth for these guys—REALLY—made it a bit hard to watch. There is something about looking into the face of a person who has personally seen, and perpetrated, violence and death and witnessed the darkest parts of the human psyche that can take the ooh-aah-show-me-more factor out anything.
Fortunately, the directors, Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, and writer, Kurt Johnstad, seemed to understand that there needed to be a lighter side to give the film more “entertainment” value. The banter between the two lead SEALs, LT Rorke and Chief Dave, provided most of this comic relief, but also did something much more important and meaningful; it gave us viewers a sense of the granite-strong fraternal bond formed between people who live and function in a world of danger and chaos. In many ways, this subtle but powerful subtext may be more of a draw for potential new enlistees, as well as moviegoers in general. I suspect it is the same magic that moved so many war veterans who saw Saving Private Ryan. Explosions and splatter-patterns of brainy goo on walls go a long way (if you’re as much of a gore whore as I am), but what makes a person truly connect with a movie, a book, or even just a catchy image is feeling that emotional tug. And really, I’m not even sure a die hard anarchist’s eyes can stay dry at the sound of Taps on a bugle.
I’ll end with a nod to the filmmakers for doing their best to incorporate some female characters with more complexity than the stereotypical “wife left behind.” I won’t reveal any spoilers, and of course, it still doesn’t get a pass on the Bechdel Test. But in a movie based on an all male tactical team, you can hardly expect it to.
If you plan to see this movie, prepare yourself by doing two things: Bring Visine because the action and excitement are so non-stop you won’t blink the entire time. And stuff some tissue in your back pocket just in case your eyes get a little more teary at the end than you’ll feel like admitting. You can blame it on the Visine.
One last point, why does everyone refer to “the elite Navy SEALs”? Navy SEAL is the definition of elite.
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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.