Lone Survivor Movie Review

I'm not really one to write movie reviews, but I just had to say something about this.  Mark and I saw Lone Survivor on Saturday and I really loved it.  I wasn't sure how I would feel for a number of reasons:

1. I am currently reading it.  I picked this book up while I was in California, and I haven't been able to put it down.  Sidenote-  I am sort of a fanatic about military history books, pretty much all I read.

2. Sometimes I still think of Mark Wahlberg as Marky Mark…ok, most of the time.

3.  Hollywood usually makes the war look terrible, as does the media.  Its not that I'm so much in favor of being at war, but I am in favor of celebrating the amazing things our military does.  I was worried about how this would make the military look.

However, I was so happy with how this movie was made.  Mostly, I was happy that such an incredible story (and a relatively unknown story to civilians) is finally getting the attentions and respect it deserves.  I am interested to finish the book and see how accurate all of the parts of movie were, but so far, they did a great job.  The only thing that I felt I needed to explain to Mark (who isn't reading the book) was that a lot more went into the decision the SEALs made to let the boys go free than was mentioned in the movie.  Marcus Luttrell does an excellent job explaining the rules of engagement and why those rules prevented the men from making any decision other than the one they did.

The ending gave me chills, seeing how the tribal and man and village saved Luttrell.  At the very end, they pay tribute to all of the men who lost their lives in this operation, and I think everyone in the theater was crying.

A few highlights:

1. The cast was fantastic.  I was especially pleased to see that Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights (Taylor Kitsch) was one of the main characters.  It took me awhile to recognize him, but ahhhh he is still so attractive, and he's apparently spent some major time at the gym.  He's a highly under-utilized actor in my opinion.

2.  Alexander Ludwig finally made another big screen appearance.  He was great.  Even if he didn't have a ton of screen time, he really did make you love his character.  The version of the Ballad of the Frogman he recited was awesome.

3.  It's always fun to see actual footage of the SEALs training, especially since I've been watching them train in Coronado for my whole life.  It was cool to see the building my family's condo is in be in the background of lots of the footage and photos.

4.  The tribute at the end was really special.  I have no idea how any of the family members of the real people would ever be able to watch this, but it was really well done.

So yeah, two thumbs up.  For sure.  I definitely recommend the movie and encourage you to read the book also, both are well worth it!