Friday night I felt the call of Uncle Sam and saw “Act of Valor.” Even though the movie had ONLY one thing going for it––the action. Man, was the execution flawless.
The plot, or rather lack of plot, really does not matter in this movie . . . at all. As we have seen this year, the Navy SEAL team is the go-team gang to save the world. “Act of Valor” aspires to mix fact with fiction as real active-duty SEALs try to act out a fictional plot. In short, a CIA operative gets kidnapped, and the rescue team uncovers a plot to try to smuggle terrorists into the United States to set off suicide bombs in major cities. The only people who can save the day are, you guessed it, the United States Navy SEALs. This big budget recruitment movie roams the globe as the SEAL team jumps out of planes, swims onto moving submarines, shoots big guns to its heart’s content and kills the bad guys.
The movie attempts to mesh the real-life, active-duty NAVY SEALs and their amazing combat tactics with a big-budget Hollywood movie. The action could not be better––bullets flying all over the place, and a well-aimed rocket launcher never fails to blow a truck sky-high. All-in-all, the action and military technology are AWESOME! But this is not “The Artist,” and, unfortunately, the actors speak.
The acting is just plain terrible and this fact is painfully obvious from the get-go. When these testosterone-loaded macho studs try to emote as the plot briefly throws families and relationships into the mix, the movie dies. In the end, the lack of acting and the abysmal plot line doom “Act of Valor.”
However, in all fairness, you don’t go to a movie titled “Act of Valor” expecting to see complex relationships and tight dialogue; you go to see things blow up and true American heroes defend the US of A! I enjoyed watching the film––if only I had another 50 pounds of muscle, I too could join the SEAL team and be one of the manly men in the movie. Not going to happen, so I’ll be content with watching these men shoot first, ask questions later and defend our home. Hoorah!
