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Review

Lone Survivor

3 out of 5 stars
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Time Out says

Based on the book of the same name by ex-soldier Marcus Luttrell (played here by Mark Wahlberg), ‘Lone Survivor’ recalls a failed 2005 mission in Afghanistan, when four US Navy Seals were tasked with finding a head Taliban honcho. After some pedestrian scene-setting, ‘Lone Survivor’ hits its stride as the mission begins. Whatever the moral implications of presenting extreme physical destruction as entertainment, few films can lay claim to such a sustained, technically impressive rendering of the consequences of combat on the human body. Its most bracing scene, bolstered by appallingly realistic stunt work and effects, sees the Seals tumble down a seemingly endless hill.

‘Lone Survivor’ isn’t always sophisticated. Some of the dialogue is unbearably cheesy, while the use of real-life footage is manipulative. But there’s moral complexity as the Seals clash on ethical grounds, and a climax in an Afghan village which is tense and surprisingly moving. Neither an anti-war tract nor a jingoistic rallying cry, the brutal but humane ‘Lone Survivor’ instead registers as a howl of despair for so many young men and women lost in war. Ashley Clark

Release Details

  • Rated:15
  • Release date:Friday 31 January 2014
  • Duration:121 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:Peter Berg
  • Screenwriter:Peter Berg
  • Cast:
    • Emile Hirsch
    • Mark Wahlberg
    • Ben Foster
    • Taylor Kitsch
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