Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch
In the war on the Taliban, the opportunity has arisen to take out Ahmat Shah (Yousuf Azami) a high-ranking member of the Taliban. An operation goes underway but when four soldiers are discovered by chance, a gruelling firefight leads to a fight for survival.
Based on the true story of Marcus Luttell (and Luttrell's book about the ordeal), Lone Survivor is an uneven film that falters as much as it succeeds. Opening with sweeping grandeur (the single shot of a helicopter flying towards camera is incredible), the film finds it difficult to maintain any tension or momentum. This problem largely resolves itself however when the film goes into grittier territory.
A large part of why the film's action sequences work better than he rest f the film is down to the greater sense of physicality. Our main characters go through the ringer and you feel every bit of their pain aided by the great sound design whilst the cat and mouse element that sets up the main crux of the film adds tension. Whilst the film does have some moments to illicit emotion and also raises some moral questions however, there's a sense that the film never truly lives up to be as good as it can be; and instead largely settles for being not bad but mediocre.
Next time, The Square. An in-depth and personal documentary of the recent political unrest in Egypt.
No comments:
Post a Comment