Lone Survivor 2013

Can’t remember the last time I watched the movie. Also, I have watched this particular movie multiple times, probably 4-5 times, and it never gets old. The gun fighting, falling down the hills, shooting RPG at chinook, and the length Taliban can go to surprise their intruding peacemakers are entertaining. Although the movie seemed to me as over-dramatisation of a true event, I liked it for those excellent shootouts and all the actions.

It’s horrifying how the lions can even struggle to set their foot on a tiger’s den— the harsh environment of a hill surrounding the community is so difficult to pierce through, even with the top-notch gadgets of the US army. Once again, the movie tells us the reality any outsider may face in the land of the Taliban and between those rocky mountain ranges.

Ambushed by notorious landscapes, modern gadgets are useless even at the top of the mountains. All the years of hard training can be proven not-enough when it comes to humanity and this particular phenomenon has clearly drawn a line between the survival and death of the highly trained seals— only if they wouldn’t release the prisoners in the first place. But the innocent faces clouded the judgment of the commander-in-charge and wreaked havoc on the entire team in the following moments.

Thematically speaking, the movie has brought a new diversity in the typical gun fighting scenes. If you judge from this specific criteria, the director has done a pretty decent job portraying a real gunfight but considering the true event; the essence might be lost. As the seals keep losing their lives, and it comes to a single survivor, the villagers' attempt to save the foreign soul is over-realistic, especially the mass shooting at the end of the movie. I am not sure about a man’s spirit of survival, but with those shrapnels pierced into the body and multiple gun wounds, is it realistic for an exhausted man to fight against a brute force— probably this is where the valor steps in, or it's for celebrating the US authorship— I don’t know.

Again, I am skeptical about the acceptance of US personnel among the villagers all of a sudden— it doesn’t make sense to me at all. Tradition considered, the whole village going against the fearful Taliban seems to be a bit messy to me— but life puts us at unexpected things, right? Well, tradition or not, if it’s real, the villagers standing against the devastating force coming from deep forests, they deserve respect.

Overall, the movie is action-packed, and you will not get bored watching the seals fight for their lives. But seeing the whole helicopter squadron blow away with rockets has frustrated me as I would love them to engage in the fight and hold the position a little longer— ah, what can you do when they are destined to doom? And it’s really heartbreaking to see those young fighters die without even a chance to fight back.

If you are a lover of gunfights (but wish it didn’t happen in the real world), Lone Survivor is a good watch. Enjoy the bullets flying over the head and hitting the flesh with beastly force, shrapnels stirring up the rocky mountains, and heroes trying to reach home— all without losing the thrill and proper entertainment a movie has to offer.

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