Lone Survivor : Movie Review


The opening credits montage and accompanying symphonic, guitar-strummed score that kick off "Lone Survivor" are unmistakably the work of writer-director Peter Berg (2012's "Battleship") and post-rock band Explosions in the Sky, sure to bring nostalgia to any fans of TV's underappreciated watermark drama "Friday Night Lights." As the film gets underway, its focus on the vérité-style interplay and camaraderie between a squad of Navy SEALs feels wholly natural and well within Berg's wheelhouse, each of them economically developed just enough that one settles almost instantly into their world. When the figurative rug is pulled out from under their feet and their situation becomes dire, then personally catastrophic, it stings all the more. As a war drama, "Lone Survivor" is brutal and unsparing. When the picture tries to become "important," it falls the way of maudlin pandering. Berg should have realized this story was vital on its own. Less would have been more.

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Author : Dustin Putman