Citizen Charlie
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  • 2019 Films
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • Alita: Battle Angel
    • 3 Stars >
      • The Kid Who Would Be King
      • Velvet Buzzsaw
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
      • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
      • Stan & Ollie
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    • 2 Stars >
      • Glass
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      • Serenity
    • 1 Star >
      • Miss Bala
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      • Happy Death Day 2U
  • Cinema Clash Podcast
  • 2018 Films
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      • The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
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    • 1 Star >
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  • 2017 Films
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  • 2016 Films
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    • 3 Stars >
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      • Author: The JT LeRoy Story
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      • A Monster with a Thousand Heads
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    • 2.5 Stars >
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      • Morris from America
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      • Queen of Katwe
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    • 2 Stars >
      • Alice Through the Looking Glass
      • American Pastoral
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      • Everybody Wants Some!!
      • The Finest Hours
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    • 1.5 Stars >
      • The 5th Wave
      • Allegiant
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      • Bad Santa 2
      • The Boss
      • Central Intelligence
      • Ghostbusters
      • How to Be Single
      • The Huntsman: Winter's War
      • Ip Man 3
      • Zoolander 2
    • 1 Star >
      • Gods of Egypt
      • Ice Age: Collision Course
      • My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
      • Now You See Me 2
      • Ratchet & Clank
      • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Ben-Hur
      • Norm of the North
      • Ride Along 2
  • 2015 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • The Big Short
      • Ex Machina
      • Jafar Panahi's Taxi
      • Steve Jobs
      • The Tribe
      • While We're Young
      • Youth
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • Best of Enemies
      • Bridge of Spies
      • Brooklyn
      • Clouds of Sils Maria
      • Concussion
      • The End of the Tour
      • The Hateful Eight
      • Inside Out
      • It Follows
      • Mad Max: Fury Road
      • The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
      • The Martian
      • Mistress America
      • The Revenant
      • Room
      • Shaun the Sheep Movie
      • Sisters
      • Spotlight
      • Star Wars: The Force Awakens
      • Straight Outta Compton
      • Truth
    • 3 Stars >
      • The Age of Adaline
      • Avengers: Age of Ultron
      • Black Mass
      • Carol
      • The Cut
      • Entourage
      • Fresh Dressed
      • The Good Dinosaur
      • Grandma
      • James White
      • Janis: Little Girl Blue
      • Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
      • McFarland, USA
      • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
      • Merchants of Doubt
      • MERU
      • Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
      • Mustang
      • Pan
      • The Peanuts Movie
      • Pitch Perfect 2
      • Pixels
      • San Andreas
      • The Second Mother
      • Son of Saul
      • Spectre
      • Trainwreck
      • We Are Your Friends
      • Woman in Gold
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • American Ultra
      • Anomalisa
      • Ant-Man
      • The Assassin
      • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
      • Boulevard
      • Crimson Peak
      • The Danish Girl
      • Far from the Madding Crowd
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      • Furious 7
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      • Hippocrates: Diary of a French Doctor
      • In the Heart of the Sea
      • Jurassic World
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      • Listen to Me Marlon
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      • The New Rijksmuseum
      • No Escape
      • Spy
      • The Visit
      • A Walk in the Woods
      • The Water Diviner
      • The Wolfpack
    • 2 Stars >
      • The 33
      • Aloft
      • Black Sea
      • Do I Sound Gay?
      • Fifty Shades of Grey
      • Focus
      • Freeheld
      • Get Hard
      • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
      • Joy
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      • The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
      • Seventh Son
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      • Tomorrowland
      • True Story
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Chappie
      • Desert Dancer
      • Hot Tub Time Machine 2
      • The Divergent Series: Insurgent
      • Jupiter Ascending
      • Maggie
      • Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
      • Run All Night
      • Ted 2
      • Vacation
    • 1 Star >
      • The Lazarus Effect
      • Magic Mike XXL
      • The Transporter Refueled
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • The Gallows
  • 2014 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Calvary
      • A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
      • Inherent Vice
      • The LEGO Movie
      • Life Itself
      • A Most Violent Year
      • Mr. Turner
      • The Theory of Everything
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • American Sniper
      • Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
      • The Boxtrolls
      • Boyhood
      • The Equalizer
      • Fury
      • Gone Girl
      • Guardians of the Galaxy
      • The Imitation Game
      • Like Father, Like Son
      • Mommy
      • Nymphomaniac: Vol. I
      • Particle Fever
      • Selma
      • Top Five
      • Whiplash
    • 3 Stars >
      • 22 Jump Street
      • Alive Inside
      • Beside Still Waters
      • The Book of Life
      • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
      • The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: THEM
      • Draft Day
      • Edge of Tomorrow
      • Get on Up
      • Godzilla
      • The Grand Budapest Hotel
      • The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
      • I Am Ali
      • The Judge
      • Kill the Messenger
      • Locke
      • Love Is Strange
      • Nas: Time Is Illmatic
      • Night Moves
      • The November Man
      • The One I Love
      • The Overnighters
      • The Raid 2
      • Rosewater
      • Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
      • St. Vincent
      • Still Alice
      • Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
      • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
      • Two Days, One Night
      • Unbroken
      • Under the Skin
      • Wild
      • X-Men: Days of Future Past
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • 3 Days to Kill
      • About Last Night
      • Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
      • Art and Craft
      • As Above, So Below
      • Begin Again
      • Blood Ties
      • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
      • Divergent
      • The Expendables 3
      • Fading Gigolo
      • Foxcatcher
      • The Giver
      • The Grand Seduction
      • Horns
      • Horrible Bosses 2
      • The Hundred-Foot Journey
      • Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
      • Jersey Boys
      • Listen Up Philip
      • Magic in the Moonlight
      • The Maze Runner
      • Men, Women & Children
      • A Million Ways to Die in the West
      • The Monuments Men
      • Mr. Peabody & Sherman
      • Muppets Most Wanted
      • Need for Speed
      • Non-Stop
      • Point and Shoot
      • RoboCop
      • Tracks
      • Transcendence
      • Veronica Mars
      • Winter's Tale
    • 2 Stars >
      • 300: Rise of an Empire
      • Alan Partridge
      • The Amazing Spider-Man 2
      • The Art of the Steal
      • Big Hero 6
      • Blended
      • Exodus: Gods and Kings
      • The French Minister
      • Hellion
      • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
      • Into the Storm
      • Into the Woods
      • John Wick
      • Laggies
      • Land Ho!
      • A Long Way Down
      • Lucy
      • Maleficent
      • Neighbors
      • Noah
      • The Nut Job
      • Oculus
      • Rio 2
      • That Awkward Moment
      • What If
      • When the Game Stands Tall
      • Wish I Was Here
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Big Eyes
      • The Fault in Our Stars
      • I, Frankenstein
      • Pompeii
      • Transformers: Age of Extinction
    • 1 Star >
      • Brick Mansions
      • The Identical
      • Ride Along
      • Son of God
      • Tusk
      • Vampire Academy
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Left Behind
      • The Legend of Hercules
      • Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
    • Zero Stars >
      • A Haunted House 2
  • 2013 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • 12 Years A Slave
      • Frances Ha
      • The Gatekeepers
      • Gravity
      • Her
      • Lone Survivor
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Stoker
      • We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • All Is Lost
      • August: Osage County
      • Before Midnight
      • The Bling Ring
      • Captain Phillips
      • Fruitvale Station
      • God Loves Uganda
      • The Great Beauty
      • Inside Llewyn Davis
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    • 3 Stars >
      • Ain't Them Bodies Saints
      • American Hustle
      • The Company You Keep
      • Dead Man Down
      • Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay
      • Don Jon
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      • Thanks for Sharing
      • Thor: The Dark World
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    • 2.5 Stars >
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      • Beyond the Hills
      • The Book Thief
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      • Emperor
      • Fast & Furious 6
      • Gloria
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      • In a World...
      • Love Is All You Need
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      • Oldboy
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      • This Is the End
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    • 2 Stars >
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      • The Counselor
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      • G.I. Joe: Retaliation
      • Gangster Squad
      • Grudge Match
      • Jack the Giant Slayer
      • Machete Kills
      • Now You See Me
    • 1.5 Stars >
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      • Girl Most Likely
      • Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
      • The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
      • The Lone Ranger
      • Parker
    • 1 Star >
      • The Hangover Part III
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      • Spring Breakers
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      • Argo
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    • 2.5 Stars >
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    • 2 Stars >
      • The Deep Blue Sea
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    • 1.5 Stars >
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    • 1 Star >
      • 2 Days in New York
  • 2011 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Another Earth
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    • 2.5 Stars >
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    • 2 Stars >
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    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Brighton Rock
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      • Martha Marcy May Marlene
      • One Day
      • Priest
      • Restless
    • 1 Star >
      • The Three Musketeers
      • Toast
      • Transformers: Dark of the Moon
  • Misc...
    • 2018 AFI DOCS Film Festival
    • 2017 Middleburg Film Festival
    • 2016 Middleburg Film Festival
  • Review Index
  • About Me

Lone Survivor

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Directed by: Peter Berg
Written by: Peter Berg, based on the book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robsinson
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Yousuf Azami, Alexander Ludwig, Jerry Ferrara
Action/Biography/Drama/Thriller/War - 121 min

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Navy Lieutenant and SEAL Michael Murphy is famous in military circles for his actions during 2005’s Operation RED WINGS in Afghanistan.  If you are unfamiliar with the story, I will do my best not to spoil it for you.  Adapted from the 2007 book of the same name, Lone Survivor does an outstanding job introducing us to a small four-man SEAL team, stepping us through their mission, and the follow-on consequences that befall them after a key decision.  Whether or not you know the story, Lone Survivor is one of the best films of 2013. 

Director Peter Berg read Lone Survivor in 2008 while filming Hancock.  Raising his hand to adapt it for the screen, Universal Pictures asked him to make 2012’s Battleship instead.  Notice the studio’s priorities here.  Battleship is a gargantuan, sci-fi, 3D, based on a board game turkey of a movie.  Lone Survivor is a close to accurate portrayal of a real-life battle in a war that is still on-going and shows off an awards caliber script and acting to match.  Yes, Battleship raked in a half billion dollars but how many people remember anything about it other than it was that one movie Rihanna was in?  Lone Survivor will not come close to those box office numbers, but its audience will not forget it either.  Where Battleship has corporate sponsorship and gee-whiz gimmicks, Lone Survivor has soul.

The soul consists of the film’s four core characters.  Lt. Murphy (Taylor Kitsch) leads the team into remote Afghan mountains to capture a Taliban leader.  At his side are Marcus Luttrell, a hospital corpsman (Mark Wahlberg), radio man Danny Dietz (Emilie Hirsch), and sonar technician Matt ‘Axe’ Axelson (Ben Foster).  After a brief intro to the team back at home base with scenes showcasing their camaraderie and Esprit de Corps as Navy SEALs, the guys enter the mission’s serious planning phase, and then in short order are dropped into the Afghan backcountry to track their prey. 

The Taliban target is beside the point for the script.  The film’s crux hinges on the dilemma that falls into the team’s lap; goat herders stumble upon their hideout.  The SEALs quickly subdue them and discuss the ins and outs of what to do with them.  From the previews, we all know they do the right thing and cut them loose even though every member of the team knows what will happen soon enough, the Taliban are going to pursue them and they will be outnumbered, outgunned, and due to the mountainous terrain, they will be out of contact to call for reinforcements. 

The Taliban know the terrain.  They know the mountain, the trees, the hiding spots, and how to move fast over ground that is tough for even the toughest SEAL.  The film’s second half is the action.  These close quarters, sometime hand-to-hand combat scenes are the most intense action sequences since Saving Private Ryan.  The sound of crunching bodies and bones falling down a boulder-strewn hillside, the ricochet of bullets, and the gut and grit it takes to keep going on in the face of insurmountable odds both engages the audience and makes them shield their eyes at points.  There will be audible groans from around you when our soldiers fall back down the side of a steep ridgeline. 

More is going on in Lone Survivor than just following the isolated SEAL team.  This includes their leadership back at the base led by their commanding officer, Lt Col Erik Kristensen (Eric Bana), and some unexpected helpers later on  but these additions are more supporting efforts to alleviate some of the tension building up in the main battle.  Superior camera work, make-up, and acting all contribute to the most high-powered and nervous time you will have in a theater in a long time.  The stand out among the group is Ben Foster.  Ever since his breakout role in 2007’s 3:10 to Yuma, he usually delivers an unexpected and alternate approach to his characters.  His portrayal of Axe is no different.  Each team member has their own identity and distinct characteristics, but you will remember Axe clearer and for a longer time than the other guys.

Lone Survivor is not strategic level warfare as so many World War II films that you recall.  This is tactical, in your face, mud and sweat-mixed exhaustion.  There is no Act of Valor propaganda on display.  Even though there is an opening montage of actual Navy SEAL training, nobody expects a movie-goer to walk out of the theater and want to sign on the dotted line to do his/her part.  Lone Survivor is also neither pro- nor anti-war.  It is solely about the battle itself.  Issues on how and why U.S. soldiers are engaged in this part of the world are not addressed.  The focus is narrow, the focus is on the team, and this soda straw focus will stay with you for a long time.



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