Act of Valor
In Quentin Tarantino's surreal-absurd Nazi satirical "Inglourious Basterds" it was still a grotesque but consequent joke about the methods of the Nazi propaganda machine. In Mike McCoy's and Scott Waugh's deadly serious Navy Seals actioner "Act of Valor" it is now entertaining , sometimes unintentionally strange reality, sponsored by the US military. We remember: In Tarantino's historical fairy tale, Daniel Brühl, cast against his successful image by the likable neighbor boy ("Good Bye, Lenin!"), Portrays the German sniper Fredrick Zoller, who had his one-of-a-kind exploit, the murder of 250 enemy soldiers in just three days, in the (fictional) Nazi propaganda film "Stolz der Nation" is supposed to be reenacted in a slightly alienated way. In the action drama "Act of Valor", some soldiers who are still in active service and therefore not named are reenacting their selfless maneuvers for the camera. The result is a very competently staged, woodenly played, sentimental-pathetic action spectacle with some questionable ones Undertones.
Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle) is a Chechen terrorist who is not exactly squeamish at work. movies online without ads -placed attack on the American ambassador to the Philippines not only tears the son of the politician to his death, but also a whole group of schoolchildren who run towards the ice cream cart that Shabal has prepared with a bomb. While the terrorist quickly fled to Russia, the Navy Seals Lieutenant Rorke and his comrade Chief Dave in California received news of an attack on two CIA agents in Costa Rica. Agent Ross (Nestor Serrano) is killed while agent Morales (Roselyn Sanchez) is kidnapped and brutally tortured by the henchmen of drug lord Christo (Alex Veadov). The future father Rorke and Dave set off with their military unit to bring the kidnapped American woman out of captivity. After the rescue has been accomplished, the information from Morales is used to establish a connection between Christo and Abu Shabal. Now the Seals are trying to get to the heavily armed mass murderer via the greasy drug smuggler.
"Act of Valor" begins with the promise that the plot is based on true events and that the military maneuvers shown correspond to actual operations by the Navy Seals. Scriptwriter Kurt Johnstad ("300") embeds these remarkably professionally filmed, cut and set action sequences into one very clichéd framework and thus follows the predictable dramaturgy of countless soldier films. In idyllic opening sequences, the exemplary heroes are introduced with their pretty picture book families and as surfing athletes' silhouettes on the sunny California beach. They are heroes who go out into the evil world to protect their families, their nation, and the American way of life from outside threats. In the awkwardly presented dialogues of the actual soldiers, who try hard but are overshadowed by their professional co-stars, and the emotionally kitschy images, this is reminiscent of patriotic-melodramatic Hollywood films like Randall Wallace's "We Were Heroes" with Mel Gibson: "Act of Valor" is naturally far removed from the differentiated military criticism of Oliver Stone ("Platoon", "Born on July 4th") and other US filmmakers.
Instead, we are accompanied through the film by Chief Dave's voiceover, which is both dubious and involuntarily comical in its serious black and white painting, which is addressed to the son of his comrade Lieutenant Rorke. This hymn of praise to his heroic ancestors, who all distinguished themselves through bravery in military service, is one of the most obvious indications that the Act of Valor is a US Navy recruiting and propaganda film in the guise of an entertaining action spectacle The feature film debut of the two directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh was not made by chance as a result of the commercial "Navy SWCC", which they shot about specialized combat boat crews. The US Navy was so enthusiastic about it that they gave McCoy and Waugh permission to use actual seals as protagonists while preserving their anonymity - provided, however, that the final cut, i.e. the decision on the final cut of the film, remains with the military . The propaganda intention can also be seen in the successful action scenes in which the men are allowed to prove their physical strength and their tactical ability. Nevertheless, especially the fast-paced first hour is very entertaining, before the story in a series of only loud, uninspired battle scenes
