Mark Wahlberg’s latest box office hit is the Afghan war film, Lone Survivor. If you don’t like to squirm in the seat, skip it. But for those with the guts to see it, you will not be disappointed.
Lone Survivor (Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana) – Not for the squeamish, Lone Survivor is a war movie. But while it is set in Afghanistan, in some ways, it is a war movie that applies to all wars. A band of brothers, in this case Navy Seals, sets our as part of an elaborate plan to catch one of the top Taliban leaders in the mountains of that God-forsaken country that has more than tested both major superpowers of the Cold War and beyond.
The perfect movie for our times, it portrays the unequivocal bravery of these four soldiers as they opt not to kill the locals, a move that dooms their mission. A moral dilemma is on display as they debate whether to break the convention and kill the old man, the child and the angry young adult or to let them go, sacrifice the mission and hope to get to safety.
The film is engrossing and a tribute to daring. As the soldiers endure bullet wounds, falls down the rocky mountains, a relentless enemy, and their own worst fears, they never lose faith in each other. Based on a true story from the lone survivor, Marcus Luttrell (played by Mark Wahlberg), the film is not for those who refuse to watch bloody, painful scenes. Almost as raw as Saving Private Ryan, albeit on a much smaller scale, Lone Survivorhas its rich and tender moments, too. When the battered and beaten Luttrell finds temporary safety with the help of some locals who are not aligned with the Taliban, we get our first glimpse of a more complicated story than the one we hear back home.
The acting is first-rate. Wahlberg has become an “A List” actor and carries the day. As Luttrell, he is moral, brave, and determined. Taylor Kitsch (from TV’s Friday Night Lights and John Carter), who plays the (apparently) legendary Michael Murphy, does a wonderful job as the squad leader. Emile Hirsch (The Emperor’s Club, Taking Woodstock, and Into The Wild) grows into this more adult role as ill-fated Danny Dietz, the most flawed of the characters. Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) may play the most gung-ho of the group, “Axe” Axelson. He would have no reticence to kill the locals to keep the mission alive.
This wonderful ensemble, under the deft direction of Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Collateral, Hancock, Very Bad Things), never flinches in telling this compelling story of a mission gone bad and the consequences of war. See if it you have the stomach.