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After seeing a private screening in LA I was relieved that someone finally got it right with an action movie. A big thanks to Bandito Brothers Productions for that and for doing the exhausting leg work to navigate through the big Navy machine for permission to film. Here’s a great clip from the making of the movie that is definitely a must see. Check it out and let me know what you guys think. Also check out Act of Valor.
-Brandon
Brandon Webb is the former Navy SEAL Sniper Course Manager and author of The Red Circle. Click these links to follow Brandon on Twitter and his Facebook page for the latest Kit Up gouge. Also check out SOFREP.COM.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t want to attract the hate train but I belive this needs to be said.
Just because the drills were done by real deals, does no make a movie ‘better’. I admitt I haven’t seen it, but the trailers leave me wondering if it’s not gonna be another TopGun like flick: good guys vs. bad guys. Good guys are SEALs, bad guys are terrorists. Loving wife at home crying because her man if off to war – the typical hollywood type drama. With all the hype arround SPECWAR after the UBL raid, one would think that all of this is a little too much. And lets face it, the guys doing the stuff maybe real deals, but they are not actors, and a movie is about actors, not drills. If I want to see a good drill, I watch a documentary, not an action movie – or a looong Navy advertisment in this case. Then again, I’m not an American, so I see things a little differently. My expectations are low.
But I may be surprised.
Robert,
As a Navy SEAL myself, I’m proud of this movie and that it accurately represents REAL action and not some poor Hollywood version. Try taking a positive outlook and you may be surprised.
Brandon (BUD/S Class 215)
Brandon, why do you think so many people have a problem with former SOF operators telling their stories and experiences? IMO our country needs more stories like this, maybe kids would grow up with REAL role models instead of spoiled athletes and crybaby celebrities…. just my .02 cents, but if anyone who has been in combat or an elite unit wants to write and or profit off their experience, and it doesnt compromise current security concerns-whats the harm? Havent they earned the right? would we be better off NOT knowing about the sacrifices that people of all branches have made on our behalf? sorry, I just dont get it……
To clarify, I understand “Act of Valor” is fictional…It just seems like in general, some people are against any one telling their stories, or writing books….
Matt the answer to your question is what Freud called “***** envy”. The little girls complaining have grown up and realized that they dont have a *****.
Hey Robert,
Did you watch the trailer? If you did, your lack of excitement might be related more to your not having a pulse than to your not being an American. I get your skepticism about the acting quality of guys who are not actors, but from the looks of all the clips I’ve seen, the movie promises to be pulse-pounding; it might be just the thing to get your heart pumping again.
Cheers,
Jeremy
“good guys vs. bad guys….loving wife at home crying because her man if off to war – the typical Hollywood type drama.”
Hate to break the news to you “Robert” but this isn’t just typical Hollywood drama. It is real life that plays out every day throughout our military.
Apparently you have never deployed into “harms way” and left a family back home to fend for its self. Let me tell you it’s a humbling experience and one that will take your appreciation for that “loving wife (and family) at home crying” to a whole different level. You should try it.
robert should read American Sniper, it will open a civilians eyes to what families go through when their loved one is a seal
Love this comment..
The other issue is that this movie has been in production since before OBL took his seafloor nap. This is not capitalizing on the sudden popularity of SEALs in American or world consciousness, this movie was in planning and early production when the best that Hollywood could muster was ‘Lions and Lambs’, ‘In the Valley of Elah’ and ‘Stop-Loss’. Events seem to have caught up with the movie, but at the time the idea was hatched there really weren’t any positive portrayals of US soldiers being made by large studios.
One reason I mentioned “Battle: LA” is that it was a surprise success to the industry. It made $83 million domestically and $128 million in foreign sales, the first weekend gross alone was probably more than the three movies I mentioned grossed in total despite much greater ‘star power’ in the anti-war movies. The movie industry is grinching about the American public not going to the movies enough, it’s amazing what happens when someone makes a movie actually in-sync with the sentiments of a large segment of the American populace.
Darren – I’m looking forward to this movie. I think I’m going to enjoy it and I’ll put my money where my mouth is and buy it for my collection.
That said there is another issue here. Notice every movie you mentioned was about conventional soldiers that were thugs/criminals? That bothers me deeply. I’m glad for the SEALs and the opportunity to showcase what they do but Hollywood, the public and others forget the dogface grunt that has done the hands down majority of the dirty fighting and dying. I’m probably a broken record to some but the conventional guys are absolutely under appreciated. This movie as great as it is and as much as I’ll enjoy it doesn’t do anything to correct that imbalance or Hollywood stereotype.
I am looking forward to watching it.
I have seen the movie and while it has some Hollywood drama, the film is a good one and well worth watching. The action sequences, which are pretty much non-stop, are extremely well done and the movie goes by very quickly. The directors used a lot of helmet mounted cameras and thus you feel like you are right in the thick of things.
Also, it needs to be said that Relativity Media and Bandito Brothers have generously allowed for several special screenings benefiting the Navy SEAL Foundation. I am doing one such screening shortly in Miami and if you are interested perhaps you can contact Brandon and I’ll allow him to share my email address with you. I will then pass along the information.
Don’t miss this movie.
It is true that good action sequences do not make a good movie (cf., most everything George Lucas has done after the first two “Star Wars” movies, the collected works of Steven Segal) but I have a lot of hope for this movie. “Battle: LA” was a pretty good movie.
I am happy to see the SEALs getting appreciation for what they do, even if recognition isn’t really what they’re in it for. From reading Chris Kyle’s book, it seems like completing the mission and respect in the Teams is the currency in that world, that and getting everyone back home in their original condition. The rest of us don’t know what they do, what they go through, what it costs them and what motivates them for the most part, there’s a wide frame-of-reference gulf there that they are unlikely to bridge even if they had time to sit down with the moviegoing public and attempt to explain. They really don’t have the time anyway, between training and deploying and what little downtime they get.
Seems like a fairly smart thing to do is to take some of that limited time and make a movie that shows them in a stylized version of their element, moving from encounter to encounter, training and deploying and operating and mourning and trying to keep it all together. Then when people ask, “What’s it like to be a SEAL?” they can say, “Have you seen ‘Act of Valor’? Yeah, well that’s the stuff we can tell you about.”
At a minimum it’s better than pointing people to the Charlie Sheen/Val Kilmer movie from 1990.
Well put Darren
I agree
Im glad to see a realistic movie hopes to show people what men really go threw and the hardships and loses they take. Yes the plot line may be Hollywood but the movie shows as well they real dangers of Spec ops Operative face in the field. I thank Brandon in this preview. I hope you and show more.
Charlie Sheen’s movie Navy SEALs was a pretty accurate account of the SEAL Teams.
What I like about ‘Act of Valor’ is the fact they are using LIVE Ammunition. I hope this movie turns out great because they are also representing USSOCOM not just SEAL Teams. SEALs are not the only ones pouring blood, sweat and tears on the battlefield as the media portrays.
I would think these guys would prefer to be out of the limelight rather the subject of every newscast, twitter account, and now a film. Am I off base?
It’s hard to say they are “Quiet Professionials” anymore- it looks like “Showboat braggarts” from the outside looking in. Sorry if that hurts feelings here but there are some things the public should never know about SOF.
comments like this make me ashamed your one of us
There are somethings the general public should never know. The problem isn’t that the SEALS are telling what they did, it’s all coming from Washington. People need to wisen up to what their elected officials are doing as far as National Security matters go.
Was Mouse McCoy a Seal? Either way he is a total bad *** anyone who completes the Baja 1000 by themselves, on a motorcycle, breaks a few ribs in the process, and still comes in 4th deserves that title. I have a new respect for him for taking part in this film which by all accounts I have read “gets it right”.
This movie definitely looks worth seeing. I have to wonder though why Department of Navy gives so much access to the press and movie makers to it’s special operators. You cannot open a newspaper or browse a news webpage with out seeing some reference to the SEALs and SEAL operations. ****, the Military Channel will even take you through an entire BUDs cycle and introduce and tell the whole life story of future operators! Yes the SEALs are busy doing work, but I doubt they are any more busy than the Army’s operators and you just do not hear about them. Part of that is probably because the SEALs are somehow seen as more glamourous I guess. A lot of it has to do with the Navy’s PR machine which is very effective. Coming from a Ranger Regiment background, I just can’t understand why you would want all your business out there. It definitely does not add anything to your operational effectiveness.
All the stories getting out about the SEALS are not coming from the Navy. This is coming from someone in Washington who is looking to make a name for themselves. I don’t believe all this crap about a confidential source. Whoever is leaking information about the SEALS ops lately needs to be brought up on charges of treason. They are putting the lives of those guys at risk.
As far as the movie goes, I personally can not wait to see it, not because I am a member of the Navy, but because finally they are making a movie the public really wants to see about the war on terror.
First, to clarify, I am not now, nor have I ever been in the SpecOps community. I’ve been an HT3 in the Gator Navy, and did 3 years as a 19D10 in the US Army (Navy 71-75, Army 76-79). If you know, then you understand. Now:
THANK GOD for an honest portrayal of the SEAL’s! And, Lifer25+? You got that one about the wife and familiy NAILED! (Been There, done that, got the ballcap, t-shirt, and the bumper-sticker). We quite often had teams aboard USS *** ******* in the ’70s. Good guys…unlike a few Jarheads I knew…
I filed a vacation day just to watch this film on its first day of showing :-)
I love and admire Navy SEALs so very much since my high school days :-)
Hello, everyone
I’m not going to respond to anyone person but i am going to say this. weather you agree or disagree the first thing you should be doing before you comment is not looking at a trailer . You should be looking for interviews and behind the scenes with the director so you may understand his vision. The SEALs in this are real and the action is as real as it can be. If you don’t know the action scenes in this movie were not written by writers, they were written but the SEALs themselves. Over 80% of the scenes in this move also are live fire. Also the SEALs made it very clear they everything in the movie, from action to stunts would be real, so CGI, cables, wires or harnesses of any kind. the equipment in the movie is also real nothing made up. the military gave the production team access to everything in the equipment room (so to speak) but they had to pay to use it. So just from these few details you can see that i have learned that although this may be a movie. it is going to the the most realistic movie you have ever seen. No stunt men, no wires, no CGI, no made up equipment to look cool, no cheese lines, everything that you see came directly from the SEALs themselves so that this would be as authentic as possible. just some facts for the people who think this is going to be a Hollywood version.
i would expect nothing less than total realism from Navy Seals they are the BEST period and this is coming from a Marine i have trained with and worked with them they are bad news for the bad guys.i can not wait for the movie to come out.Semper Fi
Ok enough of the seal how about a film of the sas or other sof, delta force, etc. what about them?
SAS or Delta definitely aren’t going to be keen on their faces being on the big screen. That said, Black Hawk Down did Delta justice on the big screen, even if the movie sucked.
Or other special forces in different country: korean special forces, russian sof, etc; they happen to do great things too as well.
Seen the movie,(awesome), Read the book,(thank you **** Couch), and am proud for the Seals gettin to show a small part of what they really do. I’ve only personally known one Seal, Darryl Young,Seal Team One, And can tell you there is no quit in any Seal. The mission will get done, period. I hope someone picked up where Darryl left off in exposing people who claimed to be Seals and are not, seems to be a lot of that going around these days. Thanks to all Seals and Special Operations forces around the world who risk it all so we can rest at night and get up the next morning and live out the freedoms won by the blood of Warriors. Oppresso De Liber. Godspeed.