![]() They can let the Afghans go, tie them up, or “terminate the complication,” options that are discussed clearly and respectfully before the mission’s leader renders his decision. ![]() Discovered by a group of goatherds, including an elderly man and a young boy, they face an unpleasant set of choices, enumerated by Murphy and debated by the others. “I think this op is cursed,” Axelson says, predictably and prophetically, and before the SEALs face physical danger they encounter a moral quandary. The point is that these professional fighters take themselves seriously only when it’s absolutely necessary. None of it is especially momentous: jokes about wives and girlfriends back home teasing a new guy (Alexander Ludwig) telling old war stories. Berg, who wrote the screenplay, loves military jargon and rough, manly humor, and likes to shoot scenes that have a rough-edged, naturalistic feel, with the dialogue mixed low so you have to sit up in your seat to catch what’s being said. The setting is Afghanistan in 2005, where we first meet a bunch of Navy SEALs enjoying the camaraderie of downtime between operations. Wahlberg), is a combat movie with the spare, clean contours of an old Western, as attuned to ethical questions as it is to gunplay and hot pursuit. ![]() Berg (“Friday Night Lights,” “The Kingdom”) is an unusually thoughtful action director, with the obvious exception of “ Battleship.”(What was he thinking?) “Lone Survivor,” closely based on a memoir by Marcus Luttrell (played by Mr. The removal of suspense - beyond the not-trivial question of how and in what order the others will die - allows the director, Peter Berg, to concentrate on other, more important matters. So when the movie sends four guys on a dangerous mission, you can be reasonably certain that only one of them is coming back, and you already know (as soon as the credits are over) that it will be the one played by Mark Wahlberg. Spoiler sensitivity is for sissies and dilettantes: Real men face the inevitable with stoical resolve. You can tell from the title that “Lone Survivor” is not messing around.
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