act of dollars in your regular action movie it stars real-life needy seals
members of america's most elite special operations force
as the recreate five actual missions
and tied them together with a fictional story about terrorists trying to smuggle
suicide bombers undetectable to close the best since the u_s_
this is an unprecedented collaboration
which raises all sorts of sticky issues about hollywood's often cozy
relationship with the military
and see his willingness to be used as tools for crewmen public relations and
pro or propaganda in exchange for the use of military resources but other
issue is where this can still make for a good movie
one of the main reasons the attention shy seals agreed to play such an
integral role in fact of valor is so they can provide a more accurate
depiction of who the seals are and how they work
because their missions are so sensitive dangerous and high-stakes like the
killing of a sound in london pakistan seals are probably the most highly
trained highly disciplined soldiers in the military the secrecy surrounding the
seals is reflected in their members were known for quite professionalism humility
and avoiding the spotlight they relax and joke when off-duty but they're able
to compartmentalize any issues at home and put their personalities aside when
they're on a mission
it's important to show people especially impressionable kids but the seals and
the bloodthirsty unstable death which having rebellious hotshots you often see
in movies the problem is that it makes the seals an act of valor kind of boring
which is not helped by the fact the seals are predictably not terribly good
actors most of the seals only get two sentences of backstory and all you
really know about the two leaders that one has a family and serfs and yet as a
pregnant wife who want some home safe audiences are drawn to a motion conflict
idiosyncratic personalities and characters in circumstances we can
relate to but you don't get much of that an act of valor impacts the most
interesting characters of the two villains in islamic chechen terrorist in
a jewish smuggler who are both played by actors
the action scenes in act of valor were designed by the seals and employees up
to date tactics technology in weaponry
it's pretty amazing see how the world's most of the soldiers work including the
meticulous planning the jargon they use how they avoid detection and how they
improvise when plants go sell the seals haven't attitude in wave moving that
would be nearly impossible for actors to replicate and some of the scenes even
use live ammunition but there's a problem with this to since the seals are
supported and often saved by the largest military in the world in most movies you
work for the scrappy underdogs of the five yards and defeat they're bigger
richer more powerful opponent one last thing that we should be rooting for the
bad guys an act of valor the seals are on the side of that bigger richer
dominating power and while the seals are definitely risking their lives and it
can be fun watching your team kicking ass and taking names because they're
fighting don't have a chance against such overwhelming firepower and
logistical support it's a little like watching someone gamble in rooting for
the house to win but it was hard shaking the feeling that i was watching exactly
what the military wanted me to see when they were killed the shops i wondered if
this was a creative choice or a way to replicate the look of military based
first-person shooters like call of duty or the pentagon created america's army
since the military knows full well that games like these increase recruitment
and get kids thinking positively about the military and not the justice of the
foreign policy it served or their political motivations behind
highlighting tunnels under the mexican border or having one of the villains
beard you with the big knows who so greedy that he sells out too radical
islam as active dollar reinforce the dangerous trend of blind soldier worship
we have in the u_s_ where we're supposed to quote support the troops no matter
what which is the becomes support the ward or reduce their budget no matter
what
despite the well executed action active ally has fundamental problems as a fact
and since i felt like i was in many ways what your current video how suspicious
that every frame of active ally was made to convince kids to join the military
which is an unsettling pot
that might be unfair assessment but it's how i felt which is why i get active
valor what the flick rating of four point eight out of ten
i'm jonathan kim for what the fuck