“Act of Valor” debuted over the weekend and earned just under $25M, almost twice as much as it was expected to. Given that it is a pro-military movie lacking the standard Hollywood “big oil and big military are bad” bias, this is a great sign.
I’ve been on a military book kick lately having recently finished “American Sniper,” “Marine Sniper – 93 Confirmed Kills,” and Tom Clancy’s “Red Storm Rising” (my first Clancy novel). My desire to see the film was spontaneous, it was not based on any talk radio or blog related hype. In fact, I had seen the commercials a few times and was skeptical of the hype surrounding the use of actual Navy SEALs in the film. But with a rare free weekend afternoon the wife and I escaped from the kids for a couple of hours to the local theater.
I went in knowing that the main characters were SEALs, not actors, so I was not expecting much with regard to dialogue. Knowing that these guys are such bad-asses I was able to overlook some of the cheesy dialogue and delivery. I didn’t buy my ticket expecting Shakespeare, I wanted to see some kick ass military bravado, and the movie delivered. The plot is not based on an actual event, but the various scenarios that took place around the globe are quite plausible. What the movie lacks in quality acting is made up for with the “holy crap that could actually happen” factor.
I won’t give up any spoilers here. A CIA agent is kidnapped by a drug dealer who is friends with a radical Muslim convert. A plot to ship arms is discovered, then a secondary more dangerous plot is uncovered. The SEALs travel the globe tracking the situation in an attempt to stop the bad guys, Straightforward good versus evil.
Some of my favorite moments:
- The river extraction scene was awesome with respect to what our guys can do. The firepower in this scene had me giggling in awe.
- The submarine capabilities were equally impressive.
- The SEAL interrogation specialist was a riot, he reminded me a little bit of Andrew Breitbart.
- There were several moments when I found myself talking to the screen under my breath saying “get out of there!” and “get ‘em!’ I felt like a kid, which is a much needed mental escape for me these days.
The special effects were stellar, the director is obviously fond of the “one shot, one kill” concept, as it was displayed frequently. There was plenty of blood, and there were many shots of people being killed, so this is not a movie you want to take kids to.
I’m sure there was some technically inaccurate content added for visual effect (entering a night time extraction with red laser sights turned on comes to mind), but I went into this with the right expectations. I would love to hear what my military friends have to say about the film’s technical accuracy.
One blogger mentioned that the camera angles and focus gave him a headache, and I can understand that. Some people are more sensitive than others to unusual camera angles or too much movement of the camera. Another blogger brought up the idea that the film was antisemitic because one of the bad guys had a big nose and he supported a radical Muslim despite being Jewish. I disagree, I sensed no hint of antisemitism in the movie.
The movie is just under two hours long and I didn’t look at my watch once. My main takeaway was that it portrayed how awesome both our military people and technology are. It also showed how evil yet inventive the bad guys can be and how vulnerable America remains more than a decade after the 9/11 attacks. The ending of the movie was very moving, as a father and proud supporter of our troops I was hit hard by the last few minutes.
After the final scene the theater was silent. No clapping, no talking. My wife and I sat through all of the credits as we always do and left the theater with an even deeper appreciation of our military. We also felt a deeper concern for the future of our country and hope that our intelligence agencies are as capable as our special forces teams. I encourage everyone to watch this movie. It is based on a reality that more Americans need to be made aware of.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. — George S. Patton
Soldiers are special people. They sacrifice much and receive little in the form of pay or thanks. While stateside they usually have to move their families all over the country at the whim of military decisions, many of which often seem illogical. Remember, we are still talking about our government. While overseas they perform their duties with skill and precision unmatched by any other nation’s military, and as a whole they provide one of the few shining examples of excellence that our government can actually claim credit for.
This is a day that we specifically honor our soldiers. The grilling, the car races, the beer and beach are all secondary to the reason Memorial Day was made a federal holiday in 1967. If you’ve never visited a war memorial, try to find time to do so. Try to plan a trip to Washington D.C. or any of our historic battlefields and monuments. America’s history will only remain intact if the masses proactively work to learn it, and learn from it.
Both of my grandfathers as well as my father-in-law served in WWII. My mother’s father was an infantryman in the Army and was in the Battle of the Bulge. He died while I was a young boy so I never got the chance to ask him about the war.
My father’s father served in the army in Europe and earned two purple hearts. He would talk about the war when I asked, I now wish that I had asked more often, since I learned that he wouldn’t talk about the war with any of his own children or his other grandchildren. He spoke fluent French, something that his officers were glad to take advantage of when they were in town trying to pick up the local ladies.
My father-in-law is 85, and I ask him about his service quite often. He was a Navy signalman on a troop transport ship (APA-99). He served in the Pacific and says that “dropping those two firecrackers on Japan” saved his life. Do some research on the invasion of Japan to see what he means.
My late father got lucky and had a high draft number that allowed him to stay home during Vietnam. However, that war still affected him greatly as he lost many dear friends. He was a gifted artist and used to send drawings of all sorts to his buddies, many of whom did not come home alive.
Most of us have friends that are currently serving our nation. If you can find time between hot dogs, why not take a few minutes and give a military friend a call if you can, or send them an email. Thank them for their service and ask them what you can do to help them. They work for us without our asking, I think it would be great if we could reach out and let them know that we support them.
Thank you to our armed forces at home and abroad!
The AP reports: “The war-zone photo opportunity produced a stunning show of appreciation for Obama from military men and women who have made great sacrifices, many serving repeated tours in a highly unpopular war.”
Stunning is an appropriate word since it appears that the scene was staged like a Broadway play. A sergeant at the event said “We were pre-screened, asked by officials ‘Who voted for Obama?’, and then those who raised their hands were shuffled to the front of the receiving line. They even handed out digital cameras and asked them to hold them up.”
Would Obama do such a thing? Since he is all about flash over substance I say hell yes he would.Were soldiers pre-screened? Were Obama voters placed at the front of the crowd? Is there fire for this smoke? Will the press cover it? I doubt it, but something similar occurred under the Evil Bushbot and it was covered even by the evil Faux News. And, as reported by Flopping Aces the Bush scandal was not a scandal at all, yet it was covered ad nauseum. To quote from this article, “Now there is evidence that Obama perpetrated an actual fraud right under the watching eyes of the press, handpicking Obama voters to represent on television the views of our soldiers, and the press reports nothing but the fraudulent story.”
Let’s hear it for transparency. Go ahead, keep the change.
