Cinema Reviews

Lone Survivor Review

27th Jan 2014

Less than a decade old, this true life event of SEAL Team 10’s failed mission: Operation red Wings during the war in Afghanistan. Not wanting to spoil anything, but the title of the film gets an important fact of the failure of this mission across – and the gruelling nature of the combat shown here exemplifies just how that very fact was reached.

Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster and Emile Hirsch each portray a member of the team sent in on their initial mission. It all goes belly up when they are discovered on up high by a small family unit of goat herders.

After deciding where to take their mission it soon becomes apparent that the local rebels are on their tail and they are just as soon caught under intense fire.

As visceral and gritty as the scenes of combat are, what really makes an impact is all of the injury sustained throughout. Berg really has gone out of his way to make audiences feel every cut and bruise, not to mention the multiple times we see characters fall, tumble and all but break their backs on trees and rocks. It’s a tough watch without wincing all along the way, and the superior performances from the main cast really hits every impact home.

Ben Foster in particular has gone all out to project just what injury can do to a body in terms of how it effects movement as well as something as basic as breathing.

Lone Survivor is not to be misjudged by its late January release date (Usually a dumping ground for material studios have little faith in, unless your film is up for a ton of rewards and was already released in the US last year). This is tough, if patriotic, filmmaking at its most impactful.