If you’re wondering if these two things are related, just ask the United States Navy’s Sea Air and Land Teams, aka the Navy SEALs. After all, there’s no team better equipped to take on a host of missions around the world, from observing a drug shipment in Somalia to a raid on a narco terrorism compound in Mexico. They have the skills and equipment, but can they stop Shamal before he and his international band of terrorists bring down the US economy? Aside from a few of the women and most of the bad guys, the stars of Act of Valor are not professional actors, and it shows in the few scenes where the men have to deliver dialogue outside of the sorts of things commonly said in their profession. The actual acting content is negligible, but when you’re there with them as they jump out of airplanes or storm a Central American village, then you don’t need acting. The authenticity is what matters in these scenes, and these are the scenes that make the movie. It’s less a movie and more a series of awesome action set pieces that are the sort of thing SEALs do day in and day out. (I will have to say, the guy who plays the Senior Chief/interrogator is pretty impressive and intense in his scene with Christo). Directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh are primarly known for some documentary stuff, including one on the Navy’s SWCC (another special forces type of unit). They know how to get in on the action, and they do so using some very good camera angles, some creative use of drone/airborne footage, and some intense POV-style shooting. Predictable story aside, just learning what the Navy SEALs do and just how they do it makes Act of Valor worth seeing, if only once. If you have ever had any kind of preoccupation or curiosity about the sort of guys that killed Osama Bin Laden and just how these sorts of missions are executed, then Act of Valor is definitely worth seeing. If you want a realistic portrait of military units working as a team, again, Act of Valor is the antidote to the Rambo vigilante school of action movies. The things these men do are incredible. It’s just a shame the movie isn’t quite as impressive.
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