Film review: Act Of Valor (15)

Since they killed Osama bin Laden last year, Navy SEALs have become American heroes, so it was just a matter of time before someone decided to make a film using actual active-duty Navy SEALs playing themselves in the leads.

For security reasons, those who took part cannot be named in the final credits, but no such shield should be given to Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, who use their cast to endow a lousy action flick with free hardware and a phoney moral authority.

Unabashed, the co-directors appear at the start of the film to pay tribute to their own impulse to explore what it takes to be a SEAL. In which case, why not make a documentary? Better yet, why not just tell us to go see this year’s Oscar-nominated Hell And Back Again, a remarkable true story about a marine who fought in Afghanistan and barely lived to tell the tale?

Instead, we’re offered something cobbled together from old Rambo movies which presents the SEALs as superfit, ethnically and socially diverse and intimidatingly manly.

They employ assertive taos such as “Being dangerous is sacred, a badge of honour,” and can kill a man with their bare hands. They are also really terrible actors, which is quite something in a genre where Charlie Sheen, Vin Diesel and Demi Moore have played SEALs over the years.

On its own terms, you can admire the ninja stealth of the SEALs on their missions, and the scenes where they crawl across terrain strafed by live ammunition are remarkable.

It’s just a pity that Act Of Valor reduces everything to level ten of a video game. The plot consists of three missions – rescuing a kidnapped CIA agent (Roselyn Sanchez) who is being tortured in a very sheer tanktop, then attempting to neutralise the threats posed by a Ukrainian drug smuggler (Alex Veadov) and a jihadist (Jason Cottle) who plans to murder Americans by strapping state-of-the-art bombs to terrified Filipinos.

There’s not much complexity to these villains, who tend to be ugly, scarred brutes who blow up children and get babes in bikinis to fix their drinks. By contrast, the SEALs enjoy surfing, family time and beer. Thank goodness it is so easy to identify enemies of the state.

A subplot about a father-to-be loses suspense in its opening minutes after one SEAL clearly announces the fate of another when he narrates a letter to his comrade’s unborn child.

This film also has no time for that most beloved of movie conventions – the lone wolf. Act Of Valor is all about teamwork and respecting authority, although the film’s enthusiastic over-editing ensures that it’s never clear how the team works.

No-one shouts, no-one gets the shakes. And unlike soldiers in the news, no-one makes politically incorrect remarks or shoots a civilian by mistake. It’s no surprise to learn that Act Of Valor was once intended as a recruitment film, because what we are presented with here is so ridiculously gung ho, it makes Top Gun look like All Quiet On The Western Front.

Act Of Valor (15)

Director: Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh

Running time: 110 minutes

Rating: **

• On general release from Friday