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Act of Valor was directed by Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy, written by Kurt Johnstad, and stars LCDR Rorke, SOC Dave, Alex Veadov, Jason Cottle, Dimiter Marinov, SOC Sonny, SOC Weimy, SOC Ajay, SOC Mikey, and Roselyn Sanchez. It follows a SEAL team as they rescue a kidnapped CIA agent, which turns into a manhunt of national interest and global implications.

The Plot: Beginning with the assertion that its story is “based on real acts of valor” nets the movie a colossal opportunity to create an intense, politically intricate web, driven by nightmarish combat, but Johnstad doesn’t take it; the script is far too simple and far too distant to be memorable.

Just after the suicide-bombing assassination of an American ambassador in the Philippines orchestrated by Chechen militant Shabal (Cottle), CIA agent Morales (Sanchez) is kidnapped in Costa Rica by suspected terrorist “Christo” Troykovich (Veadov), the very same man she was gathering intelligence on. Because the movie opens with these two events in parallel, it’s obvious they’re connected, but Act of Valor opts for delayed gratification. Enter the SEALs – Dave, Sonny, Weimy, Ajay, and Mikey, all led by Lt. Rorke, who rescue Morales and learn of an insidious plan by Shabal, Christo, and others to strike at the heart of America.

Said plan includes sending trained suicide bombers into populous areas of the US through Mexico to create an untold level of chaos to make room for something even bigger. Act of Valor tries to recognize the scale of such a plot, making room for Kerimov (Marinov), a gaggle of Somalian arms dealers, and a couple minor baddies, but to do this, the SEALs are split up to tackle the threat, leaving most details unaccounted for as the squads go to Somalia and Mexico. This can all effectively be boiled down to shooting the bad guys before they make it to the ‘States. While certainly plausible, Johnstad’s script never goes beyond the basics, eschewing subplots, motives, and depth for a plot that barely registers.

The Characters: Stunt casting is one thing, but putting real Navy SEALs in lead roles is another. It’s unfortunate (in one sense, but we’ll get to that) that none of the characters, good or bad, come off as more than cliches.

While casting active duty (at the time, at least) SEALs grounds Act of Valor’s protagonists in real-world toughness and believability during the action scenes, it doesn’t do much to show them outside the fight. Granted, that’s not something that the movie deals with, but as it stands, each man is given a one sentence rundown by the lieutenant and never developed beyond that. Rorke offers platitudinous narration throughout the movie and receives the only real humanizing treatment of having a child on the way, but this still isn’t enough to separate him from his colleagues. Neither is the acting from these guys, which is… less than stellar, so maybe it’s not too unfortunate.

None of the bad guys are particularly believable, despite their plausible plot. Christo does just about everything an evil man can do to fund his evil plans, including drug smuggling, arms dealing, and funding mafias for over 20 years. The money not used to destroy the US goes towards dirty women and a fancy yacht. Shabal is a relentless, child murdering jihadist who wants only anarchy, and Kerimov is a mustache twirling secondary villain. What do they all have in common? Well they all just hate America. Ask no further questions and receive no answers; this movie vehemently refuses to open any doors to personal details. That’s fine on its own, but personality is still required.

The Action: SEALs doing tacticool stuff is unabashedly Act of Valor’s raison d’etre, and thanks to Waugh and McCoy, it succeeds in providing furious, stylized combat without much stoppage.

Saving a CIA agent doesn’t get much cooler than in this movie, with the first major setpiece pulling out as many stops as possible to illustrate the acronym (Sea, Air and Land) the men bear. HALO jumping, hunter drone surveillance, and underwater traversal preface the action and create a great deal of suspense, which is maintained by the methods used to keep quiet (like one SEAL catching a dead body before it splashes in water). When it does kick off, the escape entails a well-shot car and boat chase and exfil by helicopter. This covers the bases with ease.

Other action scenes litter the feature in various locations such as Christo’s boat and an island off the coast of Baja, but it’s the presentation that makes these moments more interesting than they reasonably should be, considering the script. A first-person perspective is frequently used during shootouts, keeping the audience in the boots of the men doing all of these things, and the authentic movement, callouts, and carnage (explosions in this movie are awesome) further sell the immersion of the moment.

In an interesting move, Act of Valor closes when most action movies would open up. The final action scene starts with the SEALs linking up with Mexican special forces and assaulting a factory used as a front, which is par for these kinds of movies. However, as it progresses, the men enter a series of Cartel-dug caves, making for a radical switch-up of environments and tactics, with the end of the movie escalating the number of gunfights with a claustrophobic setting. The style remains constant, if sometimes unintelligible.

Undoubtedly glossed up for the big screen, the action of Act of Valor nonetheless has a kinetic appeal and fairly unique presentation that elevates its setpieces beyond mediocrity.

The Technics: With sporty guys behind the camera and the full support of the United States Navy, the resulting picture punches far above its weight in scope, scale, and earnestness. Faults aren’t necessarily redeemed, but they’re made easy to watch.

Authenticity is the principal idea of Act of Valor, and much of this comes from the locations and equipment used, along with the sounds each item makes. Several scenes happen on locations that most other Hollywood fare would have to ballpark with production design, like on a nuclear submarine and on Navy training sites (the yacht being one of them), which sells the realistic angle Waugh and McCoy were striving for. With state-of-the-art gear in frame, military authenticity is never in question. The entire sound department had an equally important hand in the same field, making each gunshot and explosion punchy while balancing tons of ambient noise that, in the wrong hands, would’ve been unbearably distracting.

Visual style further aids the movie in its missions (one to entertain, and the other to recruit more SEALs), with the aforementioned first-person camerawork matched with cinematographer Shane Hurlbut’s hand-held, frequently restless shooting style to make a jittery, yet compulsively watchable feature. Makeup effects are also solid, with plenty of camouflage caking the faces of the protagonists, as well as many injuries and blood stains sold with ease.

It should’ve taken more care in depicting the who and the why of the fighting, but taken solely as an action movie, Act of Valor is highly entertaining, dramatically inert viewing.

57/100