Almost all modern military action movies are preoccupied with showing the frenzy, confusion and gore of battle. Act of Valor does the opposite. It focuses on the terrifying efficiency of the American military. Navy SEALs show up and kill everyone. That's all the movie is really about. Sure, it kind of has a story in-between shootouts. The SEALs are assigned missions. They go on missions. The film has characters too, I guess. There was the leader with a baby on the way, his friend: the second in command, a sniper...there's a guy with a beard. Whatever. Boomsticks.
This movie has one goal, and that's all anyone should judge it by: to show how badass SEALs are. It succeeds. The good guys shoot lots of bad guys in the face and do cool sliding moves while firing and blow up cars with bad guys in them, plenty of slow-mo action, and they protect America.
The film's marketing campaign prominently broadcasts the fact that all the actors on the SEAL team were played by real Navy SEALs, which turned out exactly how one would expect. The acting is wooden and all the action is rigidly well-formed and photogenic.
The film is directed by ex-stunt coordinators, Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy, who made sure all the technical aspects of the film were well-executed, but couldn't do much for the lack of professional actors or lack of plot. Who cares? It hardly harms an otherwise solid action film. If you expect awesome gunfights, watch it. If you expect anything more, anything at all, you won't get it. There's nothing else to this movie. That's not a bad thing.
This movie has one goal, and that's all anyone should judge it by: to show how badass SEALs are. It succeeds. The good guys shoot lots of bad guys in the face and do cool sliding moves while firing and blow up cars with bad guys in them, plenty of slow-mo action, and they protect America.
The film's marketing campaign prominently broadcasts the fact that all the actors on the SEAL team were played by real Navy SEALs, which turned out exactly how one would expect. The acting is wooden and all the action is rigidly well-formed and photogenic.
The film is directed by ex-stunt coordinators, Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy, who made sure all the technical aspects of the film were well-executed, but couldn't do much for the lack of professional actors or lack of plot. Who cares? It hardly harms an otherwise solid action film. If you expect awesome gunfights, watch it. If you expect anything more, anything at all, you won't get it. There's nothing else to this movie. That's not a bad thing.
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