The Act of Valor movie was everything I expected it to be: Full of explosions, rifles and dudes running around in camouflage. Basically, it was awesome.
However, I’m assuming everyone expects a more detailed review than “Explosions! Navy SEALs! America F*** yeah!” and so I will actually talk about the plot and the guns.
Having read the Roger Ebert review yesterday I really expected the two plots to be intertwined as the movie went on. In reality the movie had one plot that really changed about half way through. I think it goes without saying that the characters were depicted pretty well. I’m not a Navy SEAL and I can’t even begin to fathom what it’s like, but these guys knew how to reload an M4A1 and that puts them leaps and bounds ahead of most Hollywood actors. The plot itself, while not necessarily bad, has some overly cheesy moments and some very sad moments, I almost cried more than once (this may have been lack of sleep since it was a midnight showing).
The gun handling was amazing. I know because the only time I really noticed it was when I was impressed they were reloading and knew how. Not that I would be surprised that Navy SEALs know how to reload, it’s just one of those things you see on screen and you want to shout “good job!” because it’s such a rarity. There is some really cool cinematography for some of the shooting and movement scenes, every once in a while it feels like being in a first person shooter because you’re looking down the sights which was a pretty neat touch.
The guns themselves are mostly M4A1s that are covered in tactical (tactical is a noun, trust me). I remember registering “EOTech” and “Aimpoint” a few times throughout the movie and a couple of the guns were sporting Knights Armament gear, there were flashlights and foregrips but at the end it wasn’t “too much” tactical, it was as much tactical as I would expect anyone to put on a rifle. I also remember seeing an MP5, a Kalashnikov and a mini-gun that is just flinging brass toward the camera. The Internet Movie Firearms Database tells me I missed an HK91, an SR25, an FN M249 Para and failed to identify the boat-mounted FN M240Gs. There’s something for everyone.
Act of Valor is everything you would expect: cool guns, lots of explosions, dudes running around in camouflage and invoking of a strong sense of Patriotism. On top of that there is also a touching, if not horribly deep, plot and some really awesome cinematography.
Sold!
You really shouldn’t have to read past the first sentence.
Knowing pdb, he didn’t. :)
My wife and I are both looking forward to seeing this movie. I have read several reviews and they all seem to rate it highly.
From what I know it was produced/directed by some of the same people that worked on Dust to Glory, a documentary about the Baja 1000. If you’re even slightly interested in off roading or racing in general it’s with watching.
I’ve also seen that they used LIVE FRIGGIN’ AMMO. Not blanks, not special effects, live friggin’ ammo.
Much easier to make a movie with safe gun handling when not doing so will get your ass shot.
That’s true, that would really change how they acted with their guns.
I got to see a sneak preview of it on sunday at the base theater. Solid action movie with hammy acting but at least they have an accurate representation of a mini gun.
The mini gun was easily my favorite part.
SWCC boat teams with multiple miniguns, ma-deuces, m240s, and m249s, mowing the shit out of terrorists gave me an epic broner.
(Sniper dude was using the SR25.)
I’m excited about seeing this one. Hopefully first of next week.
I know it’s rated R, but what would be the KID rating(safe age)?
People get shot in the face. And the head. And the chest. And the face.
Besides the fact that it was depressing, the N battery EOTechs and the non-KAC .308 AR, as well as the red lasers with NVGs, took a bit of the “realism” away for me.
And here I am impressed that their reloads looked good.
Either you’re way over-thinking it or I’m way under-thinking it.
Depends on what you mean by “Realism”…….I would venture to guess that if the directors went strictly for “Realism”, no one would show up to watch the movie. It was also made for the general public, many of whom don’t know, or need to know and understand many of the little things………
And FWIW, there are .308 AR’s used that aren’t KAC.
I went to one of the pre-screenings with someone from Bandito, and they addressed some of this. The principal photography started in 2008, which may explain some of the equipment choices. It was all real equipment. The red laser was put in post because the cameras of course didn’t pick those up. And red was used as a concession to Hollywood-ism.
Another Hollywood concession was the noises on the sub scenes. They decided to add some background noises so the scene was not bland, even though the sub is normally still and silent.
Thanks Shelly for reviewing this! So glad to read another woman’s opinion on it before I spend my money at the box office. (Of course all the guys will automatically love it)
Umm, they HAVE to use red lasers for the movie. You can’t see IR lasers, Andrew. And there are still N-battery EOTechs floating around out there, saw them in the AFG.
Shelly, thanks for the great review. I’ve heard nothing but good reviews, except for the parts where the SEALs are “acting.”. I really want to see this one.
As far as the M4s covered in “tactical,” we got issued a bunch of tactical before we went to Afghanistan. IR laser, SureFire flashlight (the spendy rail-mounted one), etc. Lots of the guys mounted all of that stuff, making a fairly lightweight rifle into a club. Lots of guys take that stuff too far. After you hump it around for awhile, you tend to leave stuff you don’t use every day in your ruck.
Great movie. My only quibble is the explosions tended to be big fire balls which is typical of Hollywood. Realistic explosions would be visually boring.
The SEAL that lost his eye got hit by the Hk91 if I recall correctly, the SR25 was most likely in the team’s sniper’s hands and covered with lots of cammo stuff, so I could see how you’d miss it. The SAWs were with the guys covering the assault team at the complex in Mexicali, and I got a funny look in the theater when I said “Hah, 240 beats Uzi” during the boat chase off Australia. I don’t have a problem…
It’s ok if you got teared up a little too, I was pretty choked up there towards the end too.
Caught this in the theater last night and while I enjoyed it all, I had made the mistake of reading the book first. I realize it’s not a fair comparison, but the one thing the book did very well that you couldn’t tell at all was tie the scenes together. It felt like much of the movie was just jumping from one place to another without understanding why. Maybe that adds realism as the actual SEALs simply get orders and go, but if you like the movie, go pickup the book, it’s short and even better.
Just saw the movie and I think it’s very realistic for what you see.
As an officer, I was stationed with SEALS @ Seafloat and we would have loved to have all the neat equipment, but we got the job done. After ‘Nam, went into sub service (including duties as SCUBA Officer) and just because you’re underwater doesn’t mean there are no sounds! In fact, sound travels 4x further in water so you work to keep it quiet, but it doesn’t always work out.
Love the SR25 since I had a Remington 700 bolt action, which took longer, made more noise and could upset your shooting position.
Yes the explosions are Hollywood unless you hit gasoline.
Loved the Swift boats, but we only had the M60 and a couple of M2s, but they really played Rock ‘n’ Roll, 60′s style.
And let’s stop for just one moment – - – and say a prayer of thanks for those whose names were listed at the end of the movie. They are the real heroes.
I just seen this movie last night. A great film! I am always vary critical of realism, especially with firearms! I must say my favorite feature of the film was that the main character’s (chief) rifle is an exact replica of mine. Def put a smile on my face. I was 99% pleased with the realism! Now I only have two lil things I noticed that wasn’t on par. Now I do know that they purposely left things off, due to not just giving any Joe shmo a view of a their tact. First was the fact that they had no back-up flip-up or an iron rear site behind their eotechs and aimpoints. Which any who is a m4 owner like myself knows is a need! Just in case ur main optic is damaged. Secondly is the red lasers. Yes they wudv had a top mounted laser system that looks exactly like they had, bud they wudv been infrared. They wudv been visible with the night vision and not with the naked eye. The fact they all had eotechs and aimpoints defeats the purpose for a red laser. Those are the only two realism misses I found, but overall it was an amazing flick!!! Pardone my ‘dumbing it down’ and full explanation of gear, but wanted the civilians to understand.
Thank you for the info, as a civilian buff, I’m always wondering what is real and “hollywood” and why. Great movie – and thanks to all of our heroes who served!