"Act of Valor" revolves around a SEAL team out to rescue an undercover CIA agent ("Without a Trace’s" Roselyn Sanchez) who’s been kidnapped by a drug smuggler’s hired thugs.
Instead, the filmmakers recruited "300" screenwriter Kurt Johnstad to concoct a fictional storyline so predictable and routine you can call the action as it happens - and sometimes even before it happens. If only "Act of Valor" had gone the documentary route, it might have been an insightful as well as action-packed look at what SEALs do - and, just as compellingly, why they do it. It was only when McCoy and Waugh reported for duty, filming SEALs in training and interviewing them after hours, that they formulated the idea of casting real-life squad members in a fictional tale based on their actual exploits. No wonder "Act of Valor" so often plays like a feature-length recruitment movie - because that’s how the project reportedly began.Īccording to the Wall Street Journal, Navy Special Warfare officials requested proposals for a SEALs movie designed to bolster recruitment, honor fallen team members - and counteract memories (if there are any) of cocky Charlie Sheen in 1990’s "Navy Seals."
It’s directed by former stuntmen Mike "Mouse" McCoy and Scott Waugh, whose credits include action-packed promotional videos for everything from Mountain Dew to the Naval Special Warfare Command, which oversaw the movie’s production. That’s not to denigrate, in any way, the bravery or expertise represented by the active-duty SEALs the movie features.īut because it claims to be a real movie and not just a cinematic recruitment poster, "Act of Valor" should be judged as a real movie - and, on that basis, it’s a lot closer to "mission impossible" than "mission accomplished." Of course, plenty of audience members won’t care one whit about the latter aspect, not when they can concentrate on (literally) explosive action sequences, complete with state-of-the-art weapons technology and real live bullets.įor some of us, though, a movie’s not a movie - not a good one, anyway - without clearly delineated, fully developed characters worth caring about.Īnd "Act of Valor’s" uneasy mixture of fact and fiction makes it tough to salute. They’re quite convincing in action, if not when acting as themselves. Substitute "Navy SEAL" for "doctor," switch the slogan around and you’ll have a pretty fair description of "Act of Valor," which features real-life Navy SEALs playing Navy SEALs on screen. Maybe you remember a TV commercial from some years back, in which an actor pitches an over-the-counter medication by advising viewers, "I’m not a doctor - but I play one on TV."
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