• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

Movie Review – Lone Survivor (2013)

January 28, 2014 by admin

Lone Survivor, 2013.

Directed by Peter Berg.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Yousuf Azami, Ali Suliman, Eric Bana and Alexander Ludwig.


SYNOPSIS:

Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious al Qaeda leader Ahmad Shahd, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.

At its core, Lone Survivor is little more than a passion project, an almost American piece of propaganda. The first 10 minutes is a seemingly never ending montage of Navy SEALs training, an introduction more appropriate as a distasteful advert for the American army. Thankfully however, the film recovers fairly quickly gaining pace rapidly and ending in a “shit-storm” of brutality and tension. Peter Berg makes films less as pieces of thespian drama, but as bloated examples of the American film industry at there absolute worse.

In previous years, Berg has directed with a heavy hand, performances heavy and unsubtle. Maybe the limited but still immensely talented cast of Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Eric Bana grounds the film. There is of course an underlying layer of cockiness that the film fails to shrug off-in a similar vein to Battleship – but it works to the films success. Wahlberg’s Luttrell balances an intensity and a sense of realism that very few actors could achieve while the much maligned Taylor Kitsch finally has a role in which his star power deserves to be boosted by.

Lone Survivor is a film about falling, both metaphorically and quite literally. Every moment of violence is of an uncomfortable brutality and each bullet is as gratuitously bloody as one could only imagine. If Berg aimed to create a film less entertaining than it is an example of heroism and brutality then he has succeeded in bucket loads. The problem with cranking it up to 10 from the off results in a finale that feels lack-lustre and predictable, a conclusion with nothing more than schmaltz.

The idea of heroism pulls the film down, awkwardly making every death a martyr, cranking up the schmaltz to an uncomfortable level. By no means as uncomfortably offensive and ugly as Act of Valour, Lone Survivor still struggles to build upon the political interests of Berg. The heavy hand of the Navy is spread across the film in a manner in which as the film comes to a close, one could be forgiven for mistaking it as simply a piece of propaganda. To the praise of Berg however, he does portray loyalty and courage as concepts with no boundaries, an idea that if forgotten would have resulted in a film of such distaste.

Lone Survivor is brutal and relentless but plays less as a film, and more as a piece of awkward American propaganda. Exactly how successful the film will be depends solely on how far the viewer chooses to go with it. At least it’s better than Battleship.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Thomas Harris

Filed Under: Uncategorized

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

1995: The Year Horror Sequels Hit Rock Bottom?

Underrated Movies from the Masters of Action Cinema

Action Movies Blessed with Stunning Cinematography

Great Vampire Movies You May Have Missed

10 Essential Frankenstein-Inspired Films

The Essential Exorcism Movies of the 21st Century

How Will Quentin Tarantino Bow Out?

Eli Roth: Ranking the Films of the Horror Icon

The 10 Best Villains in Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies

Six Overhated Modern Horror Movies

Top Stories:

Peacock’s true crime drama Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy gets a trailer

Movie Review – Superman (2025)

Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

Great 2010s Thrillers You May Have Missed

New trailer for Netflix mystery-thriller series Untamed starring Eric Bana

7 Underrated World War II Romance Movies

Movie Review – Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (2025)

Movie Review – Sovereign (2025)

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

Cinema of Violence: 10 Great Hong Kong Movies of the 1980s

The Most Obscure and Underrated Slasher Movies of the 1980s

The Most Disturbing Horror Movies of the 1980s

Incredible Character Actors Who Elevate Every Film

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket