Act of Valor - DVD

Movie: CIA agent Lisa Morales (Roselyn Sanchez) is sent on an undercover operation in Costa Rica to prove that drug and arms dealer Christo (Alex Veadov) is in cahoots with terrorist Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle). But her cover is blown and the agent is kidnapped by Christo's henchmen. A Navy SEALs squad led by Lieutenant Rorke is tasked with freeing Morales from the hands of the terrorists. In the process, the men encounter a murderous plot that Christo and Abu Shabal are preparing: Shabal is training suicide bombers who, equipped with a new type of explosive, are to carry out attacks at various locations in the United States. Christo wants to make sure the bombers are smuggled into the US. Of course, Lt. Rorke's team wants to prevent that. But the terrorists seem to be one big step ahead of them...

In their directorial debut, former stuntmen Mike Mouse McCoy and Scott Waugh wanted to pay tribute to the dangerous work of the Navy SEALs as authentically as possible. To achieve this, there was only one possible way for the two: they wanted to work with real Navy SEALs. In four years of production time, real soldiers still on active duty were cast, true events were transformed into a story suitable for filming, which was then realized over a period of two and a half years at various filming locations in the USA, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Cambodia and Mexico. Real weapons, real techniques, real submarines and of course the real soldiers should give the film a high degree of realism.

This is Act of Valor then in itself also succeeded well. However, this can be seen as both positive and negative. Positive, because the action really does feel engaging and real. Negative because the film is, of course, a very one-sided promotional film for the Navy SEALs that doesn't allow for any critical questioning. In their effort to create a cinematic memorial to the men of the US Navy's special forces, McCoy and Waugh repeatedly stray into realms that can already be described as pure propaganda. The fact that their story is also enriched with quite a few clichés of the war movie genre - of course Lt. Rorke's wife has to be pregnant - and that the soldiers are just not trained actors, doesn't help the movie either.

If you just want to see some solid action, you'll definitely get your money's worth with Act of Valor. The film has some good show values and in places a very good entertainment value. However, this only works if you can overlook the weak story and its occasionally questionable content. The choice to shoot with real Navy SEALs makes the film interesting and successful as an action film, but whether that is enough to make Act of Valor also overall a good film, that remains to be seen.

Picture + Sound: The technical quality of the DVD can be described as absolutely satisfactory. The picture is very clean, the color scheme is coherent and also the image sharpness can fully convince, especially in the brighter outdoor scenes. In darker scenes there are slight points deducted for detail, but overall there isn't really anything to complain about here. The same goes for the sound, which makes very good use of the surround channels, especially in the numerous action moments. Good!

Extras: The DVD has plenty of bonus material to offer. It starts off with an informative, unfortunately not subtitled, audio commentary by the two directors, who have many interesting anecdotes to share about the long production period and working with real Navy Seals. In a very condensed form, the two also summarize much of this information in an introduction to the video extras (about 3 minutes). This is followed by a short making of (approx. 5 min.), as well as four promotional featurettes (approx. 9 min.) about working with real firearms or shooting on a real submarine. This part of the bonus material also has German subtitles, which the following additional features lack.

Continues with six cut scenes (approx. 9 min.) and twelve interviews with the directors, the cinematographer and some of the actors (approx. 40 min.). In addition, there is the video of the song For you by Keith Urban (approx. 4 min.), for which there is also a small making of (approx. 4 min.). The trailer and other program tips of the provider round off the solid bonus offer. Good!

Conclusion: Act of Valor is good, realistic action built into a rather flatly constructed promotional film for the US Navy SEALs. While the close association with the US military lends the film a certain authenticity, it also prevents any form of critical questioning. Who can put his attention only on the action and can overlook the sometimes somewhat questionable content, the technically well implemented and with plenty of bonus material equipped DVD can be recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp