Lone Survivor

Perhaps this is the best movie I’ve seen recently.

Lone Survivor is based on the true story of Marcus Luttrell and the failed SEAL team mission he was part of. Operation Red Wing was supposed to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan but quickly goes wrong when the team is discovered. The team is forced into a moral quandary and their decision ultimately costs them their lives.

Hollywood has a tendency to bend the truth of true stories and I hope that this movie did not get bent beyond the breaking point. This was one of the grittiest and most intense pictures I have seen of late. The opening sequences were slow but did well to establish the characters and their relationships to each other. After the slow start, the movie had me riveted until the very end. Even knowing the tittle of the movie implied Luttrell survives, I questioned through out the movie how it could be possible.

What I hope is that there wasn’t too much embellishment of the events. The events Luttrell was part of should be accurate if there was not too much artistic license applied. The back-end events are what I find questionable like when a solider pulled his service pistol out and pointed it at one of the chopper pilots. This seemed like a little too much for me to believe. Maybe it’s the little things that get me most and I should care about them the least but do SEAL’s really wear Mechanix gloves???

At the end of the movie, I felt a little heart strung but want to see it again. The gritty action and human drama absolutely captivated me. The true heroes of the film are those that gave their lives in defense of their country and this film is a small, humble tribute to them and their sacrifice.

Paul Novak is a self described Polish ninja toiling away as an IT professional but more into gaming and writing. Physically existing in the west side of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania yet existentially flowing with the ether of the Internet. Found over at What’s Your Tag? and on the Twitter @dudewantshisrug. Game on with Team XBRO!