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The newest action film to hit theaters, “Act of Valor,” takes a bold step in a new direction for the genre. Starring real United States Navy SEALs and using live ammunition, the movie delivers spectacular action sequences, but falls short without a well-devised plot.
The film follows the tale, based on “real acts of valor,” of a SEAL team returning to duty, receiving its first mission to rescue a captured CIA agent (Roselyn Sanchez) in a compound in Costa Rica.
Post-rescue, the film takes a turn as the team uses intelligence gained from the rescue mission and discovers an international jihadist plot against the United States with the intent to strike on American soil.
The action throughout the film is impressive and visually stunning. The SEALs use advanced tactics, cutting edge technology and deadly precision grounds the movie in an exciting sense of reality. These scenes are the most enthralling and make the audience appreciate how highly trained and efficient these elite fighting forces are.
The movie gives an underlying feeling of being just a recruitment film. Directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh created films of a similar nature for the Navy in the past and “Act of Valor” is certainly an achievement within these constraints.
Despite the enthralling action, the film seriously lacks in its plot, carrying the weight of underdeveloped characters and backstory. The cast of anonymous SEALs’ acting is wooden and lackluster, which are only understandable for actual members of the armed forces. Yet this unfortunate lack of acting experience dehumanizes the men the film strives to display as not only brave, but emotionally complex.
The SEALs are not alone in this boat. Even the villains, the smuggler Christov (Alex Veadov) and the radical suicide bomber Karimov (Dimiter Marinov) deliver unimpressive and mediocre performances.
Perhaps the most emotionally moving scene comes at the end, as the audience finds meaning behind the narration throughout the film – a letter written to the son of a fallen comrade. However, the emotion does not come from the depth of the acting, but rather from the pure pathos the scene evokes.
In terms of visuals, the movie is stunning. The clarity and detail put into the locations and elaborate battle scenes easily makes these scenes the most worthwhile of the movie. The film’s numerous settings, from Mexico to Ukraine, are all visually appealing and serve as excellent choices to further demonstrate the SEALs’ skills in different settings.
The use of a variety of camera angles ranges in effectiveness from scene to scene. The angles from the remote control plane used in the Costa Rica extraction mission and the sniper angles help to add drama and intensity to the fight.
Another unique angle is the first-person angle the film sometimes adopts. Though interesting, this angle is extremely visually similar to the numerous first-person shooter video games on the market. The angle, coupled with the accompanying heavy breathing ironically actually feels a bit over-the-top, removing the audience from the action and negating the immersion the director seeks to create.
In spite of its flaws, the film makes it hard not to feel patriotic. War is neither glorified nor condemned, but the film attempts, and succeeds on occasion, to show the struggle, time and effort this elite fighting force puts into its work: to protect the citizens of the United States of America.
