Director Peter Berg (the excellent, under-rated The Kingdom, the daft but hugely enjoyable, under-rated Battleship) here turns his hand to the story of four special forces operatives stuck faaaaaaaar behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. Pinned down by hostile Taliban, and out of radio contact with base, injured and isolated, the four guys – Wahlberg, Kitsch, Foster, Hirsch – are forced on the run under heavy fire across gruelling terrain….
I don’t much like war films – I can’t get beyond the futility of it all, nor indeed the apparent ineptitude of the well-oiled military machine. Lone Survivor though is exceptionally well made. It’s beautifully, beautifully shot (with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico performing admirable stand-in for the Hindu Kush), the action scenes are visceral and brutal, the stunt performances should be Oscar nominated, and the performances are great. Taylor Kitsch should be the next great movie star, I think (though he’s old-school understated classy star, not the McConnaughey-Jackman shirtless preening buffoon-type)
So: not something I’d watch again, but interesting for what it is. A true story too.