(May Contain Spoilers)

Let me be clear first before anyone comes and accuses me of disrespecting our soldiers, I am not against the bravery and honor the U.S Armed Forces do, I utterly respect it. Considering this movie was based on a true story, what these men did was heroic and will go into the books. This is merely a review of a movie and not an evaluation of the Soldiers who fight for our country.

No one can compare their lives to those who fight within enemy territories; being shot at by AK-47’s and RPGs, whilst having limited ammo, insufficient radio connection and being outnumbered against countless members of the Taliban. Lone Survivor portrays the failed mission: Operation Red Wing, in June 28, 2005, directed by Mark Wahlberg.

Wahlberg does not only direct but he also stars in the movie as group leader Marcus Luttrell, Petty Officer First Class. He is accompanied by 3 other men: Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and Matt ‘Axe’ Axelson (Ben Foster).

Their objective is to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd, who is identified as the one with no earlobes. As they sit on the side of a mountain that gives them a view of the village Shahd stays at, they are blind-sided by several villagers who Luttrell finds out later had connections to the Taliban.

The soldiers decide they have no choice but to make the mistake of letting them go free which shortly after puts them in grave danger and an all-out gun battle of the 4 of them against countless Taliban ground troops.

This was like any other movie of heroism. Soldiers go into enemy territory, they are outnumbered, forced into a corner whilst 3 out of 4 members are gunned down, and one lives to tell the story. This movie was very unrealistic. I understand that the adrenaline rush, shock and focus cause the body to ignore pain. However, the amount of bullets and shrapnel alone, which penetrated the bodies of all 4 soldiers, should have slowed them down immensely.

A few soldiers had been shot in the foot, the arm, and even a few fingers were shot off. They tied some ripped cloth around the wound (or ignored it completely if the bullet went straight through the body) and went about firing at the enemy.

The soldiers also took some horrid blows to parts of the body while falling off the mountain and still continued to fight back. Some of the blows included the spine, neck and multiple parts of the legs.

Two of the last things I didn’t like about the movie were the subtitles. Taliban members speak in Arabic and only one scene throughout the whole movie does it show what they say in an attempt to save Luttrell’s life. Lastly, I did not like that yet another director has to cast himself as the main character who of which survives. Yes that was a spoiler; you cannot say you did not expect that from the top-billed actor Mark Wahlberg, who is always one of the main characters in all of the movies he is casted in.

Grade: C