Act of Valor

I have no doubt that Act of Valor will be a major success at the box office. Not only is it being promoted by an aggressive marketing campaign, but it has a can't miss gimmick of featuring real life-active duty Navy SEALs as its stars in realistic missions. This automatically leads the audience to two conclusions. One conclusion is that the action sequences will be incredibly well done and authentic. The other is that the acting in the non-battle sequences is not exactly going to be the highlight of the film. Act of Valor lives up to both expectations.

The project was initially envisioned as a training and recruitment film for the SEALs, but directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh eventually decided to take their movie in another direction, and turn it into a film for mass audiences. The end result is a disconnect between the action sequences (which are executed flawlessly), and the more quiet, dramatic moments (which are wooden and uninvolving). The simple plot that's been shoehorned into the action involves terrorists trying to sneak into America's borders through Mexico. There are a number of action sequences, which involve the SEALs being dropped down, and then essentially mowing down everyone in sight. Here's a way to describe what kind of a movie this is - Did you ever see Team America: World Police? Well, this is the kind of movie that one was parodying. No wonder I had Team America's anthem, "America: Fuck, Yeah!" in my head during a lot of this film's scenes.

Of course, the movie's sole purpose is to honor the soldiers who put their lives on the line every day. It's a noble cause, but not enough to sustain an entire movie. Especially not an entire movie filled with characters who barely reach one dimension. Of all the SEALs that we spend time with on the front line of battle, the only thing we really learn about them is that one of the guys has a pregnant wife back home. Everyone else pretty much does their job on the battlefield, which I guess is what a lot of people have come to see, but a bit of dramatic tension or character building would have been appreciated. And the villains are of the cartoonish over the top variety that could have wandered in from any B-war movie. For a movie that's using realism as one of its selling points, they could have at least given us villains who wouldn't feel right at home in G.I. Joe.

And yet, whenever the cameras follow the Navy SEALs as they dive off choppers and into battle, we forget all about the narrative and acting problems, and focus on the intensity of battle, which the movie does a great job of recreating. Of course, I can only assume this is what it feels like to go behind enemy lines, and perform a rescue mission in the jungles of Costa Rica. It at least feels authentic, with the camera doing a great job of conveying the chaos and intensity of war. There is a certain documentary feel to the battle sequences, that is only broken up when the film switches over to a forced first person perspective that makes the whole thing kind of look like a video game. Every time the filmmakers switched to that point of view, it broke the mood, but outside of this decision, the battles really are flawlessly filmed.

For a lot of people, this alone will be enough to recommend Act of Valor, and I suspect they'll have a great time. But I wanted more dramatic intensity to go with the action intensity. I can't really say I cared about any of the SEALs up on the screen, as they're underwritten and developed so poorly, it's sometimes hard to tell them apart. The only one who does stand out is the senior chief SEAL, who at least gets to display a sense of humor a couple times in the film, and also comes across as the most natural actor in the movie. The rest of the acting by the SEALs is better left ignored. I guess it's kind of silly to criticize this aspect. After all, they're not actors to begin with. But in a movie playing on thousands of screens and asking people to pay top price, we expect at least some kind of professionalism. Outside of action, these guys have a hard time conveying the slightest emotion.

I suspect that Kathryn Bigelow's (The Hurt Locker) upcoming movie about the team that hunted down Osama Bin Laden will be more successful at blending emotion and battle realism. As it stands, Act of Valor is well made, and does manage to stir up some feelings of patriotism. It's just very thin stuff in its narrative and its emotions. We should definitely be grateful for what these soldiers do for us. Just don't ask them to act in another movie after this.

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