Act of Valor

D+

Directors: Mike McCoy, Scott Waugh
Writer: Kurt Johnstad
Stars:Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez and Nestor Serrano

This film is 110 minutes of military actions scenes stitched together with just enough thread to be called a single movie.
Relativity Media, describes the film as “An unprecedented blend of real-life heroism and original filmmaking, Act of Valor stars a group of active-duty Navy SEALs in a powerful story of contemporary global anti-terrorism.” While I find it interesting to use “Real Life solders” I came away from the film saying ” Don’t hire Woody Allen to be a warrior, and don’t hire a warrior to make a film.

The story involves “Bandito Platoon”, an elite team of Navy SEALs as they set off to rescue a kidnapped CIA Agent posing as a doctor in a poor area of Costa Rica. As part of their successful mission they, in a million to one shot, happen to find a cell phone that leads them to a plan to carry out 16 coordinated terrorist attacks here in the US. This sends”Bandito Platoon” into action to foil the evil plot. The story takes us around the world where we are introduced to stereotypical evil people from Chechen rebels, Islamic suicide bombers from the Philippines, Drug smugglers from the Ukraine that moonlight as manufacturers of high-tech bombs, some bad people from Somalia. Throw in a rich corrupt Jew who’s just going along for the money, then send the action over to the U.S.-Mexico border where this insane Ukrainian join forces with a Mexican drug cartel and the writer Kurt Johnstad, has managed to include as many bad guys as he could possibly squeeze into one movie. Furthermore, this film was also a collage of sorts. Hundreds of shots taken from the 1st person perspective of helmet-cams, shaky random cameras, dutch-angled aerials… It is insane! Even the few good shots in the film just…dissappear.

Interestingly was the fact that most of the film was shot on Canon 7D or 5D DSLR cameras.