Pretty Good

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

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.

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.

I re-watched Lone Survivor lately and its still a damn fine war movie: fine cast, top choreographed action scenes and pro production, well done soundtrack, and even if its very fictional, the audience gets a taste of the realities of war. All in all a perfect movie about modern warfare like Black Hawk Down and American Sniper, Hurt Locker and Jarhead, just to name a few. And yes, I agree with some critics, Lone Survivor got a good shot of patriotism, but anyway, many (if not most) soldiers are patriots, so if patriotism is used in a movie to show the "mental-state" or moral and motivations of the soldiers (camaraderie etc.) , its just fine for me - as long as the movie shows us that war takes its toll from all involved too. A real gem for the aficionado of war movies.

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!