Act Of Valour, as envisaged by Bandito Brothers, seems like a cool idea. The film aims at creating a war movie which is gritty and realistic and that reflects the real heroism of US Navy SEALs in combination with what it means to be a patriot in today’s world. It also achieves this authenticity effortlessly. But does it have interesting content? Mmm, well not so much.
The story line is pretty simple. A team of active duty Navy Seals are sent on a secret mission to save a kidnapped CIA agent. However, after reaching their drop zone and rescuing the hostage, the soldiers find out about an underground terrorist plot that could affect each major US city. Consequently, the U.S. Navy SEAL team goes global in pursuit of their foes.
From a narrative perspective, Act Of Valor barely even qualifies for being called a movie. The film is mostly composed of several loosely connected missions that do not really take you anywhere special. In this regard, it feels very much like video games do. Most of the cinematography is even shot like an FPS game with plenty of cutaways showing what they see from the perspective of individual SEALSs.The director wants people to play Call of Duty and Battlefield after watching his release but he ends up making another gimmick instead.It has not got any great action scenes either; actually it is almost dull than watching your friend playing solo campaign on Modern Warfare 3.
Also, there was some uneven acting here and there throughout the movie. Kudos must be given to directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh for putting actual Navy SEALS into lead roles’. Their tactics as well as military knowledge make them seem very real or authentic though they are certainly not actors by profession at all instances as one will observe most especially when it comes the more intimate moments where dialogue takes place between characters hence making such parts drag too much in my opinion .Though I acknowledge that allowing these soldiers to display their skills on the field is honorable, however it’s rather painful watching them as they chat amongst themselves in between missions.
That said, from a behind-the-scenes standpoint, Act Of Valor was somewhat of a technical marvel. According to Jacob Rosenberg, who served as a post production supervisor for the movie, 75% of the film was shot on such medium format prosumer DSLRs as Canon 5Ds. And to top it off there were no digitally created elements whatsoever in this flick and almost everything you see save for some muzzle flashes and blood splatters is practical; without any green screens or CGI used at all.
Similarly, its camera rigs and variable frame rate conversions were unheard-of before now using methods and technology on limited budget of only $20 million. The production was literally an experiment in digital guerrilla filmmaking, and taking that into account does earn the film an extra pat on the back.
Nevertheless, as amazing as it might sound, the movie is still a little bit forgettable. There are some nice action scenes though – mostly at the beginning – but their fun factor diminishes with time as the movie goes on. All in all, Act of Valor is nothing more than a two-hour-long recruitment video driven by crass nationalist sentiments that fails to feel completely true to itself despite its good intentions.
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