Random Movie: Act of Valor (2012)

On paper (and in the ads), Act of Valor sounds like an interesting premise: an action film shot using Navy SEALs in place of actors. After all, if they can portray even half of the cool stuff the general public even knows about, it should kick ass, right? Eh, sadly not so much. Of all movie genres, it doesn't take too much for me to like a military-based film probably much like the rest of the world enjoys the hell out of military-based video games. Mostly in these films there is a decent story, great action, and overwhelming sense of humility for even the fictional military members doing things that I'd rather not have to think about. They are almost cathartic that way.

Act of Valor on the other hand fizzles out almost from the start with a heavy-handed narration from one SEAL to (presumably) the son of another fallen soldier. In the next scene, we meet Rourke who is about to deploy and whose wife is expecting a baby. As if his fate as an expectant father in a dangerous action film wasn't clear enough. We are treated to a briefing on the team's members that doesn't do much other than let us know there are more than the two main guys and then they are whisked away to various corners of the globe to to rescue a captured CIA agent, fight a drug dealer, and defeat a mad Jihadist (their words, not mine) and his rag-tag team of suicide bombers.



It isn't too long into the film that first-time feature directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh kick the action into super-high gear as the SEALs storm compounds, blow up vehicles, and create a body count that probably rivals an 80s Schwarzenegger film. Once it starts, the action is pretty frequent culminating in car chases and gunfights galore. But although the action is above-average, a good amount of it is mostly indistinguishable with the very frantic jump cuts between the half-dozen or so featured SEALs and overly baffling shot choices including an absurd amount of POV shots. The first time the first-person-shooter-cam shows up is pretty neat but by the end it has more than overstayed its welcome.

In between the action-y scenes though is where the film really struggles as the numerous uncredited SEALs playing SEALs can barely manage a casual conversation about kids or future aspirations without it being as stilted as a sixth-grade talent show skit. I know it seems like an easy out to criticize non-actors for their appropriate non-acting ability but it was quite frequently distracting to the point that it degrades the rest of the film. Clearly, the main focus of Act of Valor is not as much for entertainment purposes as it is a tribute to Navy SEALs and their heroism and having such easy flaws to pick at does little good.

The film's pacing is another big issue as many seemingly inconsequential actions tend to drag on as if the filmmakers were making a point to showcase the minutiae at the expense of the story. Reportedly, the production started as an internal film to showcase the SEALs achievements which would make sense to a certain point but even excruciating corporate training videos have better acting and story design than here. While I'm willing to forgive the numerous cliches used in the "it's a dumb action movie" argument, I can't excuse the fact that this would more likely be a DTV affair rather than a theatrical release if it weren't featuring real heroes in their element.