Act of Valor (2012)

Active duty Navy SEALs in all the starring roles. A story based on actual SEAL missions. A patriotic, awe-inspiring tale of good triumphing over evil. Act of Valor has it all... which leads me to ask the question, how did it go so wrong?

The story behind Act of Valor, a film that gained unprecedented access to not only active duty Navy SEALs themselves but to the secrets of previous missions, seems simple at first. A group of deployed SEALs are sent into South America to rescue and extract a CIA operative who's being held captive by a terroristsupporting drug cartel. Upon successfully rescuing the damsel in distress, the SEALs uncover plans for a mass Jihad attack that will be carried out in only a few short days in locations all across America. The SEALs are forced into lifethreatening situations all while trying to maintain family ties back on the homefront.

The cast of this real life/fiction hybrid is difficult to pin down; names have been given to credit to the SEALs who appeared in the movie, but due to the fact that SEALs are special operators, all are falsified aliases. What can be said of these brave men and their acting talents is not much; as far as acting goes, it is scarcely found in Act of Valor but it seems to be acceptable as the SEALs are essentially playing themselves.

Credit can be given to Alex Veadov, whose previous work includes roles in Air Force One and Contact, who plays the financier of the Jihadist group, Christo. Veadov emotes a conflicted yet hateful feeling that proves to be very off-putting. Credit may also be given to Jason Cottle, who plays the role of the Jihad mastermind Abu Shabal and gives an equally unsettling performance.

Act of Valor had the potential to be one film in a thousand; Directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh were given nearly unrestricted access to the Navy SEALs and the world in which they live. McCoy and Waugh were even given the SEALs themselves, a rare occurrence considering SEALs are often undercover operators, to star in the roles written about their lives and their missions. Here's where Act of Valor went wrong. The story was so unrealistic, so complicated and out of nowhere that it becomes all too easy as an audience to become quickly disinterested, and the video game atmosphere comes off as a cheap ploy to get younger audiences into the theatre. All the fatal shots in Act of Valor are shots fired directly into the head of the enemy and when an operator becomes hurt their vision blurs in a red iris effect — Call of Duty, anyone?

All things considered, Act of Valor failed. It should have done more justice to the men featured in the film who made tremendous sacrifices in the name of duty; sadly, this film did not.

Rating: 1 out of 5