Director: Peter Berg.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch, Eric Bana, Jerry Ferrara, Emile Hirsch.
Certificate: 15.
Running Time: 121 minutes.
Synopsis: Based on The New York Times bestselling true story of heroism, courage and survival, LONE SURVIVOR tells the incredible tale of four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralise a high-level al-Qaeda operative who are ambushed by the enemy in the mountains of Afghanistan. Faced with an impossible moral decision, the small band is isolated from help and surrounded by a much larger force of Taliban ready for war. As they confront unthinkable odds together, the four men find reserves of strength and resilience as they stay in the fight to the finish.
Following the awful science-fiction actioner BATTLESHIP, which was littered with some truly toe-curling American patriotism that must have left even the most staunch US citizen a little red-faced, director Peter Berg is back amongst the US military for an altogether more serious affair. LONE SURVIVOR, based on the same-titled novel by former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell (alongside biographer Patrick Robinson), follows the four-man covert mission known as Operation Red Wings to take out a top ranking Taliban target. As the title suggests, things don’t go according to plan and the film is without doubt Berg’s finest directorial outing.
The underrated actor-turned-filmmaker – who co-incidentally features in another short cameo (as does Luttrell) – has put together a truly harrowing film that may be more than a touch unjust to the fallen to label it in the action genre. While it unduly is an action pic in the truest sense, it’s essentially a raw and relentless depiction of modern warfare that will live long in the memory thanks to the close connection you’ll ultimately feel to the four unlucky souls and their back up when their controversial assignment is ambushed.
Opening with actual footage of the tough regimes these skilled servicemen must undergo to claim that prestigious rank, the first third of the film centres on these brothers in arms just days prior to their ordeal. What follows is a brutal, intense endurance test for the audience as the team – led by a career-best Taylor Kitsch – find themselves in the fight of their lives. Whether you’re one of the people who can’t (or refuse to) understand why we’re fighting a war on foreign soil, or believe it’s all for the greater good, you’ll be hard pressed to find a harsher look at life in the trenches, or in this case, the rough mountainous terrain of Afghanistan.
While the aforementioned young Kitsch is the leader of this group in terms of rank, the majority of the picture falls on the shoulders of Mark Wahlberg (who also produces) as his petty officer Luttrell. An actor who rarely gets the plaudits he so often deserves, Wahlberg gives a gut-wretching, powerful performance, Berg’s script and agonising direction hitting home the horrors of conflict with unflinching detail. Once the group find its backs to the walls, be prepared for an assault on the senses that refuses to let up on rapid gunfire, close hand-to-hand combat and wince-inducing cliff-falls for well over an hour. An epic battle that is both shocking in its realism and barbarity, with a particular character’s demise difficult to stomach in a seemingly protracted execution.
Much like his undervalued lead performance in David O. Russell’s THE FIGHTER, overshadowed by the current method master Christian Bale, you get the sense Wahlberg will once again miss out on an Oscar nod as part of this impressive ensemble. However, taken as a whole, LONE SURVIVOR is easily the finest war film since Steven Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, so expect it to swoop a number of technical achievements. An unforgettable concluding montage is also sure to hammer home the realities of those who were left behind to pick up their shattered lives as well as remind us not everyone in the Middle East should be tarred with the same brush.
[usr=5] LONE SURVIVOR is released in US cinemas on Friday 10th January and UK cinemas on Friday 31st January.
