Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

wcactusboy This movie was great and very accurate for the most part. There were some inaccuracies in the beginning and middle of the movie ,but they were very minor and did not bother me. However at the end of the movie, things got totally inaccurate. Don't want to say too much ,but the ending couple been much better.

paulclaassen The film's title along with the poster give the story away: Lone survivor - with an image of Mark Wahlberg. Talk about spoilers before you've even started watching the film!! So, from the very beginning I knew what was coming - it was simply a matter of when and how. The film got off to a very slow start. In fact, an hour into the film I was still waiting for something to happen. Anything!The film is about four guys trying to survive against all odds, but - as mentioned - the title already gave it away, so there was very little suspense and no surprises. The film delivered exactly as indicated. The tagline says 'Based on true acts of courage'. Am I missing something here? How were they being courageous? They were fighting for their lives, yes, the same anyone in their situation would have done.I realize this is based on fact and I do sympathize with those affected by the tragedy, but as a film it made for boring viewing. The action was merely guys shooting and being shot at, and falling or jumping off cliffs - again and again. I actually couldn't wait for this to end. The last few minutes were action-packed, but by that time I honestly couldn't give a damn anymore. There's so many reasons why I did not enjoy this. On a positive note, the directing was very good, and the photography was excellent. All the actors were good and believable, as well. You could literally sense their agony.

Jackson Booth-Millard I kept seeing the poster and DVD cover for this film various times, and missing it being shown on television, so when I finally got the opportunity to see it, I made sure not to miss out again, directed by Peter Berg (Welcome to the Jungle, Battleship, Deepwater Horizon). Basically set in 2005, a United States Navy SEALs unit is ordered on a mission to capture Taliban leader Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami), who is responsible for killing over twenty United States Marines, as well as villagers and refugees aiding American forces. The four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team includes leader Michael P. "Murph" Murphy (John Carter's Taylor Kitsch), snipers Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) and Matthew 'Axe' Axelson (Hell or High Water's Ben Foster), and communications specialist Danny Dietz (Into the Wild's Emile Hirsch). The team is inserted into the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, they trek through the mountains and experience communication problems, which plays a critical role in the following events. Arriving at their designated location, the SEALs are accidentally discovered by an elderly shepherd and two teenage goat herders, knowing they will likely alert the Taliban to their presence, the team is split about whether to kill the herders or not. After a debate and Luttrell convincing the others that their deaths will incite backlash, the herders are released and the mission is aborted, but before they can escape, the Talibam forces discover them. Although they manage to kill several Taliban soldiers, they are heavily outnumbered and at a significant tactical disadvantage, each of the men are seriously injured during a firefight, to flee from the opposition they jump off the edge of a ridge into a large ravine. The SEALs continue a defensive retreat despite their injuries, Dietz starts losing consciousness and shouts to Luttrell, unwittingly revealing the team's position to the Taliban. Murphy and Axelson jump off another ridge and flee, while Luttrell tries to carry Dietz down the mountain, but Dietz is shot in the shoulder, the impact causes Luttrell to lose his grip and fall off the cliff, the dying Dietz remains at the top and is killed by the Taliban. Murphy tries to climb back up to get a signal to call in support forces on the satellite phone, while satellite phone provide him with cover shooting at the Taliban, when Murphy finally reaches higher ground, he is able to alert the SEAL base of their location and request emergency assistance, before he is shot dead. In response to the distress call, a quick reaction force team assembles, two Chinook helicopters head to the team's location to extract the remaining members of the reconnaissance and surveillance team. One of the helicopters is shot down by the Taliban, killing eight Navy SEALs and eight Special Operations aviators on board, the second helicopter is forced to turn back, Luttrell and a badly injured Axelson witnessed the attack and are left behind. Axelson is killed when he leaves his hiding spot to find cover and attack several approaching insurgents, while Luttrell is discovered by the Taliban, a rocket-propelled grenade is fired, the impact causes him to fall into a rock crevice, he survives and hides from the Taliban fighters. Luttrell finds a small body of water to submerge himself in, when he surfaces he is discovered by local Pashtun villager Mohammad Gulab (Ali Suliman), Gulab takes Luttrell into his care, returning to his village and hiding him in his home. A mountain man is sent by Gulab to the nearest American air base to alert military forces to rescue Luttrell, but Taliban fighters arrive to capture and kill him, only for Gulab and the villagers to intervene, threatening to kill them if they harm Luttrell. The fighters leave, but to return to punish them for protecting Luttrell, Gulab and the others manage to fend them off during an attack, then American forces arrive via helicopters, shattering advancing Taliban, killing several insurgents, Luttrell is evacuated and taken back to base. The end of the film shows photographs of the real-life Marcus Luttrell, Mohammad Gulab and the men who died during the operation, and it reveals the Pashtun villagers helped Luttrell as part of a traditional code of honour known as the Pashtunwali. Also starring Eric Bana as Erik Kristensen and Alexander Ludwig as Shane Patton. Wahlberg gives a good performance as the lone survivor of the title who goes to hell and back on the battlefield, he has good support from Hirsch, Kitsch and Foster, it is pretty simple true-life story of a squad of soldiers on a mission find and kill a top warlord, the mission is compromised and they are forced to fight for their lives, the scenes of the characters bonding is okay, but the most memorable moments are the loud firefights, with bullets flying, blood spurting, bones breaking and much more unpleasant stuff, but the violence is necessary to depict the harsh reality of war, an interesting action thriller based on a true story. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. Worth watching!

Patrick Henry Leavy Lone SurvivorAn excellent film about a terrible tragedy, Lone Survivor manages to chill the bones and tug the heartstrings with it's gritty, violent, surrealist realism, juxtaposed against the exposed souls of these valiant men. These "exposed souls" are revealed throughout the first act of the film. The film does a very good job of portraying a likable group of soldiers, who are also very down to earth, or as down to earth as you can be when you're a trained killing machine. Their relationships, hopes, dreams, their camaraderie, all given to us beautifully without any pretentious or lazy storytelling. It all feels authentic.The film is shot very well with interpersonal relations and the mundane scenes at the base. I will say there were a few points where the film began to lose my attention, mostly during the briefings. They could have been left out I suppose, or done differently. I did notice it during the film, but it didn't bother me enough to really affect my enjoyment of it.The music is so on point in this film. The score blew me away several times, but always in a very subtly effective way. There are no big orchestral pieces, but instead a lot of very beautifully done electric guitar, shrouded with reverb, echo and other effects.Once the film gets to the action, the cinematography really shines. So much of the action is caught in such vivid and raw detail. Many times you feel like you are there. Motion blur is kept to a minimum, which I certainly appreciate. Honestly, with the scope and scale of the fight that ensues, it's amazing they were able to put it all on camera, much less in such an unusually clear frame. There were many noticeably long shots in the middle of firefights that required some very delicate staging and timing, but these were not done with intent for fancy film making, but instead for actual practical conveyance of tactical and emotional information, and also for pleasantness to the eye, without seeming to sacrifice in real life believability. The story was a roller-coaster of emotion. It opens ones eyes to both the brutality and the beauty of Afghani and Islamic culture in a way that doesn't feel forced or sugar coated. Yet it also has a few jabs at the progressive press and the pressure they put on soldiers fighting in a conflict they know nothing about. And again, it shines a light on the utter incompetency and murderous carelessness of the U.S. military. None of it is pretentious. No one is left safe. I love this godd*** movie.Ultimately, my biggest complaint is they give away the end of the movie at the beginning. I mean, I know it's called "Lone Survivor", but leave at least something to the imagination. We know we are in for action, it's a movie about navy seals! Just let us get to the action when it comes, instead of jumping the gun and spoiling the movie. That choice I did not understand, seems like a suit decision. Ultimately, I would highly highly recommend this movie. However, it is very difficult to watch. And many tears will be shed, if you have a soul. I recommend leaving time to watch something funny or lighthearted afterwards. You can get popcorn though, the first part of the film is palatable in that way. This may be my favorite war film.SPOILERS:So I wrote this review before seeing the accusations leveled against the movie for it's "heavy handed jingoism".Here's the thing, this is a true story about how these seals got screwed because they chose to let prisoners go instead of killing them. And they didn't want to kill these people because they were afraid of the Seals getting bad press. Now, most critics being as narrow-minded progressives as they are, they are unwilling to accept that maybe their world view is wrong, and maybe people in the states who have no idea what's happening on the ground shouldn't stick their noses where it doesn't belong. Also, not all people from other countries are just happy, peace loving farmers that want to be left alone. Now if you actually watch the entire film, and you didn't fall asleep after you gorged yourself on the free snacks you get for being a professional criticizer, you realize that this film depicts two warring peoples in Afghanistan, and the noble efforts of one of these sides to defeat the other. I felt so much compassion and love for those people because of this movie. It gave me a perspective and appreciation for a people half a world away, who are struggling to defend themselves and their way of life. I think it's incredibly insulting to label this movie jingoist, just because it doesn't paint a very friendly picture of the FREAKING TALIBAN! You know, the people who execute homosexuals.But of course, the other thing that bothers them is this shows how humane our soldiers are by choosing to not kill captured enemies, and that of course bothers them because they like to think that our soldiers are just a bunch of swinging dicks.And again, like most war movies, this movie is decidedly anti-war, and it only serves to show how poorly fought and thought out this conflict has been. It is a very nuanced film, so I guess if you are a closed-minded SJW type, you would call that Jingoist.