Director Peter Berg is really a fan of his ‘rah rah America’ films. Whether it’s about football, alien spaceships taking on American military, or accounts of an actual military operation, he’s a man who loves his patriotic dramas. It’s not to discount that what happened in “Lone Survivor” was without its heroism, but “Lone Survivor” is in the end a mediocre military drama and just a sub-par human drama, that fails to focus on the human aspect of its story. I’m not opposed to films about patriotism or celebrating the armed forced, but the soldiers at the core of the dilemma that ensues lack that humanistic aspect that could inspire us to really root or empathize with them.
With “Saving Private Ryan,” director Steven Spielberg allowed us a good time to know every soldier. We were able to empathize with even the most unlikable and grating of the soldiers in this fight for survival, and it hurt when they died in combat. Most of the characters in “Lone Survivor” lack that depth, often feeling like action figures that never quite hurt. Even when they have a bullet in their heads. Director Berg stages “Lone Survivor” like a partial recruitment video for the SEALS, with a ten minute documented look at the grueling training soldiers ensue, and then shifts over to the story. The characters themselves are really just gritty and slick heroes, often bantering back and forth and bickering about their home lives.
Director Berg clearly just wants to depict the SEALS as invulnerable warriors, and really should have stopped at a documentary, to give audiences ideas of what the life is like, all the while unfolding the events that Lieutenant Luttrell endured in Afghanistan. Much of “Lone Survivor” has no real narrative. It’s just a series of events leading in to much monotonous gun fighting, and a finale in an Afghani village. We’re never really privvy to the individual thoughts and personas of the group brought in to Afghanistan for their operations, so when they’re confronted with a group of goat herders and argue over whether they should execute them or let them go, there’s not much emphasis on the scene. It’s fleeting arguing, followed by a quick progression in to the plot that never really lingers over the group in any way.
There’s no discussion about the morality of considering the executions, and the fall out, beyond the attack, is minimal. The ensemble cast is pretty fantastic with solid performances by Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch, and Mark Wahlberg, but neither stand out amidst the grit and almost immediate drop in to gun battles and chases. The real event that occurred was heartbreaking and I don’t deny the heroism of this troop, but director Berg’s war drama really misses the mark on depicting how grueling and wrenching this experience was. “Lone Survivor” really has the opportunity to convey a tale about the courage of the Navy SEALS involved in this battle and how their sacrifice was heroic. The only time there was any kind of humanity behind the film was during the final montage involving stills of the actual soldiers that lost their lives in combat.