I’m not sure if Act of Valor is trying hard to cater towards the video game crowd, or video games are just trying their hardest to be realistic, cause Act of Valor is pretty much a video game in live action form, which to me is not a bad thing. I may be alone on this review, but that’s what the word opinion is for. So with that out of the way, let’s shoot through this review…
Short nitty-gritty plot description from IMDb is as follows: An elite team of Navy SEALs embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.
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| I’m loving the random explosion in the background. |
The advertising for this movie focused on the fact that it starred active duty Navy Seals and for the most part it was a good thing. When those Seals are in their element and shooting the shit out of everything, the movie is golden. Move those Seals into a dramatic scene (i.e. any of the at home scenes), the awful acting starts to show up and drag you out of the movie. Thankfully, those scenes are few and far between. The story is also a little on the thin side and is told in a frantic style, jumping all over the planet. However, if you like action, you’ll be pleased to know that you’ll be treated to
several action scenes, with lots of shooting, explosions and violence.
Act of Valor looks to be a made as a recruitment video for would be soldiers, but that didn’t bother me. Instead, I just got engrossed in all the lingo, which from what I hear is 100% authentic, the weaponry and some striking scenes. Seeing soldiers zip line down from a helicopter to a boat and proceed to dock aboard a surfacing submarine was one of the highlights. Another thing I really enjoyed was some of the first person scenes. You can tell that they wanted to bring in some FPS video game fans and for me it really worked to get you into the action.
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| The everyday life of a Navy Seal. |
Conclusion time! I was surprised I liked the movie as much as I did. I thought for sure it was going to be cheesy and way too patriotic for my tastes, but thankfully it didn’t go extremely overboard. I say, if you ever wanted to see a live action version of Medal of Honor or Call of Duty, you’ll be happy to know that Act of Valor offers just that, you’ll only need to look past the wooden acting from our actual Navy Seals.
Rating:
