Lone Survivor

Last Sunday I saw Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg and Emile Hirsch.

It can't be overstated how damaging a spoiler title can be to a film.

Based on the memoir by real-life soldier Marcus Luttrell, the movie captures all of the horrors of war and combat without an ounce of suspense or hope since we all know that only one man will emerge with his life.

It shakes down like this: an American team of Navy SEALs is sent to Afghanistan to capture and/or eliminate a known Taliban leader. They quickly locate him and then everything that can go wrong does go wrong, all because of some goats.

The violence we witness in the injured soldiers who keep fighting until their last breath is alternately inspirational and gratuitous.

We know going in that we're going to see a lot of blood—it is a war movie after all. But scene after scene, shot after shot only serves to desensitize us viewers in the same way that the repetitive nature of the nightly news does.

I'm thankful that Mr. Luttrell emerged safe, if not scarred, by his experience in Afghanistan, but dismayed by the fact this wouldn't have been a movie (or book) had his fellow troops not given their lives.

I'm sorry for the cause and disappointed in the result.

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