Act of Valour

(M) Roadshow DVD/BD

Act of Valor is a propaganda film in disguise — and not much of a disguise at that.

Originally intended as a recruitment film before developing into a more traditional war film, it was made with the participation of the US Navy SEALs and is dedicated to all those Navy SEALs that have died in active duty since 9/11 (and their names all appear on screen).

The story, all based on “real life acts of valour” but at the same time seemingly taken straight from the big book of war movie clichés, follows an elite team of Navy SEALs whose covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent becomes a mission to stop a terrorist attack on the USA.

The involvement of the military in the film is really Act of Valor’s defining feature. All of the Navy SEAL characters in the film are played by real life Navy SEALs.

While this means they are very comfortable doing soldier things, other aspects like character development and dramatic tension are lacking as a result of some of the most wooden acting you’ll ever see.

The strength of this film, however, is the authenticity of its action sequences. The battle and procedural sequences are impressive in a non-Hollywood kind of way. The authenticity — or what appears to be authenticity to someone who wouldn’t really know what authentic military action looks like — is where the involvement of the Navy SEALs really brings something to the film.

It captures some quite impressive manoeuvres involving helicopters, boats, trucks and submarines. The action sequences do, however, feature a great deal of first-person camera angles making it look like a videogame, which has me thinking perhaps it was intended specifically to recruit Call of Duty gamers.

While this sense of authenticity guarantees that Act of Valor does have some redeeming features, the extreme hands-on-hearts American patriotism will likely be off-putting for most non-American viewers.

Duncan McLean