Lone Survivor

Writer-director Peter Berg's unflinching, action-packed war film focuses on a June 2005 guerrilla skirmish in the war in Afghanistan, as recalled by Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg). Following brutal Navy SEAL training, Team 10 is dispatched on a mission to take out an isolated, high-level target: senior Taliban leader Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami), a man responsible for the deaths of 20 Marines the previous week. The courageous four-man surveillance-and-reconnaissance team includes Hospital Corpsman Luttrell, Lt. Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Gunner's Mate Danny P. Dietz (Emile Hirsch), and Sonar Technician Matthew “Axe” Axelson (Ben Foster). After parachuting into Kunar's rugged mountains unobserved, the men are discovered by a trio of goatherds and immediately met with a dilemma: these Afghan civilians are unarmed, but if released (in accordance with the Geneva Convention) they will inform the Taliban. As commander, good-hearted Lt. Murphy frees the captives, after which their whereabouts are quickly revealed. Ferociously intense fighting ensues, with much going wrong, and the men's chances for survival are further lessened by their inability to contact their Commander (Eric Bana) at headquarters. Based on Luttrell's memoir, Lone Survivor benefits from realistic performances, but also suffers from relentlessly bloody and simplistic machismo. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes segments “The Fallen Heroes of Operation Red Wings” (17 min.) and “Bringing the Story to Light” (5 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the production featurettes “Will of the Warrior” (28 min.), “Recreating the Firefight” (11 min.), “Learning the Basics” (6 min.), and “The Pashtun Code of Life” (4 min.), as well as bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (S. Granger)