Four stars. Rating: R, for strong war violence and pervasive profanity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 1.10.14
Color me surprised: Peter Berg
finally made another decent movie.
The actor-turned-writer/director
scored an indisputable hit with 2004’s warm-hearted Friday Night Lights, a
character-driven study of small-town Texas high school football; the film led
to an equally well-received TV series that kept fans happy for three
well-scripted seasons (with Berg supervising the entire run).
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| Having trekked to a vantage point where they can see their targeted enemy combatant, the covert SEAL team — from left, Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Marcus (Mark Wahlberg), Axe (Ben Foster) and Dietz (Emile Hirsch) — contemplate their next move. Sadly, that decision is about to be taken out of their hands. |
On the big screen, though, Berg’s
résumé didn’t merely stall; it nose-dived into overwrought wretched excess. The
Kingdom (2007) was marred by unpleasantly vicious racism; Hancock (2008) did
little but embarrass star Will Smith; and the less said about 2012’s laughably
atrocious Battleship, the better.
That’s a rather sad and pathetic
downward spiral.
I therefore held out very little
hope for Lone Survivor, upon learning that Berg was directing and scripting from
Marcus Luttrell’s gripping 2007 memoir ... which just goes to prove, once
again, the folly of rash assumptions. This film deserves place of pride
alongside A Bridge Too Far, Gallipoli, Black Hawk Down and other war
dramas that honor the grit, bravery, indomitable will and almost superhuman resilience
of overwhelmed, ground-based soldiers betrayed by circumstances beyond their
control.
Lone Survivor isn’t merely
stirring; it’s nail-bitingly tense and, ultimately, heartbreaking.
The story details a SEAL
operation code-named Operation Red Wings, which in June 2005 sent four men into
a mountainous region of Afghanistan; they were tasked with locating and killing
Ahmad Shah, a Taliban sympathizer who had orchestrated the ambush of 20 Marines
the previous week.
To say that everything went wrong
would be an understatement. Radio communications were spotty at best, absent
entirely when the subsequent crisis erupted. Worse yet, American intel
seriously underestimated the size of Shah’s resident militia. When the dust had
settled, as this film’s title warns us, only one man had survived ... and the
fatalities had expanded to include far more than the initial SEAL team.
Berg, long a gung-ho champion of
American warrior spirit, unveils this film’s credits against actual footage of
formidable SEAL training sessions; our immediate takeaway is that these men
will endure anything, battling far beyond “normal” levels of pain and
punishment, in the pursuit of successfully completing a mission and returning
home with their comrades.
It’s an impressive montage, and
it certainly sets the mood for what is to come.
We meet our protagonists
immediately prior to their mission, during a typical “waiting” period at Camp
Ouellette, at Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield. They cheerfully compete with each
other, send e-mails to loved ones back home, make plans for the future. The
day’s most significant event involves the “induction” of newbie SEAL Shane
Patton (Alexander Ludwig, appropriately enthusiastic), a process that involves
some mild hazing and considerable hoo-rah bonding.
The eventual team comprises
Michael Patrick Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), the on-ground team officer in charge of
Operation Red Wings; Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), leading petty officer and
medic; Matthew “Axe” Axelson (Ben Foster), second-class petty officer and
marksman; and Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), gunner’s mate second class and
communications officer.
Their late-night insertion, via
fastrope, proceeds without incident; they also make excellent time hiking the treacherous
territory toward their destination. But almost immediately after confirming
Shah’s presence in the tiny village below, the mission is compromised by the
unexpected arrival of three local goat herders.
The resulting dilemma is an
immediate crisis, with tension escalating by the second, and the implications
potentially grim. The subsequent discussion illuminates the divergent
personalities of our heroes, with Axe and Marcus representing the two extremes.
Axe, certain that their three captives are Taliban sympathizers, advocates killing
them and proceeding with the mission; Marcus, the voice of reason, cautions
that “rules of engagement” do not allow the execution of civilians.
The argument doesn’t last long,
and — sadly — we get a sense that the decision might not have mattered either
way. In the manner of things that are snakebit, celestial forces may have
doomed Operations Red Wings from the outset.
Watching the resulting
catastrophe unfold, during the latter two-thirds of Berg’s relentless drama, is
unbearable going in ... and it simply gets worse.
We grieve for what goes down
because our four stars play their roles so well, and also because Berg never
veers from the brotherly bond that links these men. It’s palpable and utterly
persuasive; as each horrific setback is followed by an ever more desperate
response, we begin to wonder — despite the evidence of history — if a miracle
might occur, and the outcome somehow be different.
Berg deserves considerable
credit: He gets us wholly involved, emotionally and psychologically. We
couldn’t be more invested in these men.
(Well ... except for several
groups of idiots sprinkled throughout Tuesday evening’s preview screening.
Trust me: There are no jocular lines once Murphy and his men hit the ground, no
tension-draining moments of comic relief ... and yet numerous patrons were
laughing at wildly inappropriate moments. Some people obviously are callous
jerks from the neck up.)
Although Wahlberg is the nominal
star, Foster quickly establishes the strongest presence as the ruthless,
unstoppable Axe: the epitome of calm resolve under fire. I was reminded of the chill
sniper played so memorably by Barry Pepper, in 1998’s Saving Private Ryan;
Foster exudes the same steely, tight-lipped certainty of purpose and movement.
Wahlberg is equally comfortable
in this increasingly chaotic environment: just as adept as Foster, at the
story’s punishing physical qualities, and the personification of our horrified realization
that things could go so wrong. More subtly, Wahlberg eventually assumes the
responsibility that comes with his place in these events: We see it in his
eyes. Marcus understands that living to tell the tale and properly honor his
comrades becomes the mission.
From the outset, Hirsch’s Dietz
feels ill-fated; if portents are to be believed, his destiny seems sealed once
his radio ceases to function properly. Dietz’s reaction, however, is of
surprise; it’s a feeling we share. How can these professional soldiers,
equipped with so much weaponry and high-tech equipment, be even the slightest
bit challenged by “simple” mountain combatants, no matter how large their
number? Dietz never gets scared, merely exasperated; it’s an intriguing set of
acting choices on Hirsch’s part.
Kitsch ... well ... is out of his
league. Berg obviously likes this actor, who made his rep as one of the younger
leads on the TV version of Friday Night Lights; Berg also made him the star of
the ill-fated Battleship. But Kitsch brings very little to the party; he
lacks the gravitas and presence necessary for a big-screen performance. He’s a
bit better than an empty space here, but his handling of Murphy turns the
character into a cipher.
Eric Bana exudes authority as
Erik Kristensen, the commander who orchestrates Operation Red Wings and tracks
its progress from Camp Ouellette. Yousuf Azami and Sammy Sheik are properly
scary as Shah and his vicious second-in-command, Taraq. Ali Suliman has a
welcome role as Gulab, an honorable Afghan villager, and Rohan Chand is quite
memorable as Gulab’s wide-eyed young son.
The production work is top-notch,
starting with Colby Parker Jr.’s superb editing and Tobias A. Schliessler’s
ground-level, in-our-faces cinematography. Stunt coordinator Kevin Scott and
his huge team also deserve considerable praise for delivering such
bone-crunching, body-shattering verisimilitude during our heroes’ increasingly
desperate attempts to escape.
Despite the obvious care with
which Berg approached this material — he jokes, in the press notes, about not
wanting to irritate more than 1,000 SEALs — we can sense the artistic choices
that are inserted to augment the drama, particularly in the final few minutes.
Even given the fidelity of Luttrell’s source material, numerous events take
place that he wasn’t in a position to see, let alone report. But that’s never
an issue here: If Berg’s primary goal was to honor the warrior bond that drives
these men during every waking hour, he succeeded admirably.
Like Saving Private Ryan and
the other war dramas cited above, Lone Survivor is hard to watch. But the
outcome is worth the anguish, and this much also is certain: Berg’s film is a
far better recruitment tool than early 2012’s reality-hued Act of Valor, with
its actual active-duty SEALs.
There’s a reason drama often
resonates more than real life.
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