The Act of Valor movie was everything I expected it to be: Full of explosions, rifles and dudes running around in camouflage. Basically, it was awesome.
However, I’m assuming everyone expects a more detailed review than “Explosions! Navy SEALs! America F*** yeah!” and so I will actually talk about the plot and the guns.
Having read the Roger Ebert review yesterday I really expected the two plots to be intertwined as the movie went on. In reality the movie had one plot that really changed about half way through. I think it goes without saying that the characters were depicted pretty well. I’m not a Navy SEAL and I can’t even begin to fathom what it’s like, but these guys knew how to reload an M4A1 and that puts them leaps and bounds ahead of most Hollywood actors. The plot itself, while not necessarily bad, has some overly cheesy moments and some very sad moments, I almost cried more than once (this may have been lack of sleep since it was a midnight showing).
The gun handling was amazing. I know because the only time I really noticed it was when I was impressed they were reloading and knew how. Not that I would be surprised that Navy SEALs know how to reload, it’s just one of those things you see on screen and you want to shout “good job!” because it’s such a rarity. There is some really cool cinematography for some of the shooting and movement scenes, every once in a while it feels like being in a first person shooter because you’re looking down the sights which was a pretty neat touch.
The guns themselves are mostly M4A1s that are covered in tactical (tactical is a noun, trust me). I remember registering “EOTech” and “Aimpoint” a few times throughout the movie and a couple of the guns were sporting Knights Armament gear, there were flashlights and foregrips but at the end it wasn’t “too much” tactical, it was as much tactical as I would expect anyone to put on a rifle. I also remember seeing an MP5, a Kalashnikov and a mini-gun that is just flinging brass toward the camera. The Internet Movie Firearms Database tells me I missed an HK91, an SR25, an FN M249 Para and failed to identify the boat-mounted FN M240Gs. There’s something for everyone.
Act of Valor is everything you would expect: cool guns, lots of explosions, dudes running around in camouflage and invoking of a strong sense of Patriotism. On top of that there is also a touching, if not horribly deep, plot and some really awesome cinematography.
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