
“Act of Valor” was born not in Hollywood, but in the Pentagon. It was commissioned by the Navy’s Special Warfare Command and its success will be measured not in box-office receipts, but in the number of new recruits it attracts to the Navy SEALs.”
– Jordan Zakarin, Huffington Post, 2/17/2012
“Act of Valor” began as a film project for the US Navy Seals. After working with them closely on a training video, filmmakers Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh conceived of the idea of a full length motion picture revolving around special forces tactics. The Navy was quick to agree, as detailed by the Huffington Post article above.
But above and beyond the discomfort I have with a Military recruitment video masquerading as a piece of fictionalized entertainment, and selling tickets at the megaplex, “Act of Valor” was painful.
It was an excruciating exercise in watching people who are not actors acting off of a script with all the nuances of a new, uncolored child’s coloring book, directed by men whose only directorial credit is the aforementioned training video.
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