In the Company of Heroes

Every war has its own cinematic stories.  World War I has “War Horse” and “Paths of Glory,” World War II has “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Longest Day,” the Vietnam War has “Platoon” and “Apocalypse Now,” and the present-day War on Terror has “Zero Dark Thirty” and “The Hurt Locker.”  Although these films capture different wars, the horrors that are experienced within these films are common throughout them all.

Director Peter Berg brings this next film that depicts the war America is currently fighting, and that film is “Lone Survivor,” based on a true story of a failed, but brave, mission of four men who get sent into the mountains of Afghanistan to track down a Taliban leader.  In terms of films depicting the War on Terror, it doesn’t quite reach the high tension of “Zero Dark Thirty” or “The Hurt Locker,” but still expresses the horrific dangers of war as it drops the audience into the action.

In June 2005, Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), and a team of Navy SEALS, including Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matthew Axelson (Ben Foster) set out for Operation Red Wings to capture Taliban leader Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami).  As they take part in their hunt for Shah, the group begins to face ambushes from Taliban fighters that put their mission in jeopardy.

Seeing as the soldiers are in the middle of near-constant combat, there isn’t much time for them to have some moments of character development, but that’s remedied, sort of, when they briefly talk about their lives, and near the beginning when we go to each of their rooms at their base and we see photos of their families, as well as what’s shown before the end credits.  Although, seeing as these individuals are heroes, the film would have benefited greatly from stronger moments of characterization.  Out of the four main performances, however, Ben Foster easily gives the best one.

Berg’s screenplay, which is based on Luttrell’s book of the same name, keeps much of the film within the dangers of warfare.  Once the film moves to the actual mission, there are long stretches of the story where it just focuses on the SEAL team, instead of transitioning back and forth between the soldiers and their military bases.  This allows to feel a sense of the growing threat that the soldiers are facing.  The negative is that the war scenes become prolonged and a little repetitive as the SEALs take on members of the Taliban.

Berg has a history of directing a couple of big-budget films, such as “Battleship” and “Hancock.”  So, it’s easy to see why he includes a few action-movie touches during the ambush scenes, such as handheld-camera movements (cinematography by Tobias Schliessler) and some slow-motion shots, particularly one in which the four soldiers jump off a cliff as an explosion erupts behind them.  It’s unfortunate, however, that he didn’t focus a little more on the characters, as he did successfully with his football drama, “Friday Night Lights,” which is definitely his best film.

Although “Lone Survivor” isn’t quite as noteworthy as some other films that deal with the War on Terror, it still offers a glimpse at the bravery that these SEALs expressed in the line of duty.

Final grade: B