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Act Of Valor Trailer: Call Of Duty Goes Real. Like, Really Real, With Actual Navy SEALs

By TK | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (12)

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How does one approach writing about a film like Acts of Valor? It feels vaguely exploitative, given the recent tragedy surrounding the death of several SEAL team members in Afghanistan. It’s also a little strange, considering that it started out as nothing more than a recruiting film for the Navy (yes, really). Then people started thinking about making it into a documentary about the military’s Naval Special Warfare Command, and somehow that morphed into a full-length feature film… albeit one that stars actual Navy SEALs.

Weird, I know.

It’s directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waughhe, and the co-stars and the villains are actors, portrayed by the likes of Rosalyn Sanchez and Emilio Rivera. But the stars of the film? Yep, actual, literal Special Forces badasses, starring in a fictional film about SEALs on a mission to rescue a captured CIA agent. And because the SEAL teams are such a secretive bunch, the names of the soldiers playing their fictional selves won’t actually be in the credits. So you’ll have no idea who they really are. It’s flat-out bizarre.

What’s even stranger is that the trailer below has a strangely video game feel to it, like one of those Call Of Duty trailers. Or should I say, one of those Battlefield trailers, because to compound the weirdness, and to make it feel even more exploitative, the trailer concludes with an ad for the newest Battlefield game. The whole thing is a little puzzling.

That said, the action footage is pretty impressive, and the shot of a sniper taking out a man on a boat, who is silently caught by an underwater frogman — that’s some compelling stuff. The film took three years to complete, mainly because the SEALs could only shoot the film when they were on training exercises. I have no idea how it will actually play out, and the film is fielding some stiff competition, including another SEAL movie directed by The Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow as well as Universal’s Lone Survivor. But it’s certainly an interesting idea.

Take a look:

Anything to wash the taste of this out of our mouths, right?









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Comments

The original Navy Seals with Michael Biehn, Charlie Sheen, and Dennis Haysbert is one of my favorite bad movies, like American Ninja meets Iron Eagle bad. I forced my roommate to watch that and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra back-to-back, and it was one of the best nights of drunken homemade MST3Kin'/Rifftraxin' we've ever had.

What I'm saying is, this better play at a theater at which I can consume copious amounts of alcohol before and during the movie.

Posted by: RobP at October 13, 2011 10:53 AM

They had me going, and then they went and called it a "motion picture experience," like this was 1919 or something.

Posted by: , at October 13, 2011 11:00 AM

I live in Virginia Beach, about 500 yards from Little Creek, where all the Seals train, including the team that got Bin Laden. If you're up late at night and sit on my front porch, you can watch the Seals drive by on their way to training in fleets of black Humvees towing sexy looking speedboats under X-Files style black tarps. Drive the 7 minutes to the coast, and you can get drunk on the beach while watching a black helicopter hover 75 feet over the water expelling Seals who land in the water and swim to shore without ever making a sound. It's decidedly badass.

That being said, as someone who has spent quite a bit of time around Seals, that meaty asshole with the $3K tattoo who's talking about "all the shit he's seen" in the Seals? He's not one. Look 3 tables down in the corner for the wiry middle-aged ginger guy in the bike shorts drinking St Pauli Girl and that Philipino gym-teacher looking dude sitting with him. They're the ones who can kill you with a cocktail umbrella and the appetizer menu. No joke.

Posted by: Aratweth at October 13, 2011 11:01 AM

...the recent tragedy surrounding the death of the SEAL team that killed Bin Laden.


The SEAL members killed in the recent helicopter incident, while part of the same unit, were not the same individuals involved in the Bin Laden operation.

(you are correct. Apologies. -TK)

Posted by: Greedy at October 13, 2011 11:03 AM

Was oozing patriotism until the BF3 ad showed up.

Catching the baddie before he made a splash was too cool.

And looking at the tech used i was surprised they didn't advertise Ghost Recon Future Soldier at the end.

Posted by: haplo at October 13, 2011 11:06 AM

RobP, why would you want to watch this movie while drinking alcohol. I dont think its gonna be an over the top idiotic film like those other two. It might be grounded in reality since actual Navy Seals are in it.

Posted by: Glyn at October 13, 2011 12:55 PM

I'm all over this.

It definitely has that Call of Duty feel to it (especially the latest "Black Ops" game) but amazingly it looks like they reeled it in from propoganda to almost biopic. It doesn't have that Team America feel that some "patriotic" films have, to the point of absurdity. I like that they're using real SEALS for this, and I wonder how much input they had on the film.

Although tying in an ad for a video game is is pretty bad taste after that, Battlefield 3 has a former SAS dude on board as a consultant, to make sure they get little details just right.

Slightly off topic, I was extremely hesitant over DICE's previous game before Battlefield 3, Medal of Honor, since it took place in Afghanistan and we're kind of sort of still fighting over there. It turns out it was written with a lot of input of actual "Tier One" operatives who served in Afghanistan, doing things like recon and working with contacts to get intel.

The game itself is almost a detail-for-detail recreation of actual events in Afghanistan (Operation Anaconda, if I remember correctly.) Instead of the usual "America kicks evil's ass" tone these games sometimes get, it's told from the perspective of the actual troops, so it has a much greater feel of frustration over the way things were (mis)handled by the leadership, and a greater focus on the camaraderie of the "boots on the ground."

In other words, even when you use the real military for entertainment purposes, it can be pretty impressive if it's done correctly and sensitively.

Posted by: Markus at October 13, 2011 2:41 PM

I think by having real SEALs in it the film may be more restrained, since I don't think they can put too much focus/detail on their lives and try and mine them for melodrama.

That limit of information, sadly, makes me think there may not be many hard-bodied, strong, gloriously sweaty men in the film....::tear::

Posted by: Donut Plains at October 13, 2011 3:17 PM

*hard bodied, strong, gloriously sweaty NAKED men

Damnit, I always screw up my posts.

I meant to say I want to see naked Navy SEALs. Please. Pretty please. Por favor.

Posted by: Donut Plains at October 13, 2011 3:18 PM

"the ones who can kill you with a cocktail umbrella and the appetizer menu"

WORD!

I will probably never see this. I get too weepy realizing that real people are dying so I can sit my fat ass down to eat popcorn. I hope this makes oodles of money and has people thanking vets left and right. It would be about time.

Posted by: karen at October 13, 2011 4:15 PM

This looks decidedly bad-ass. Despite being a completely unwavering nancy-boy pacifist in my everyday life, there's something in me that responds to witnessing chillingly efficient murder-machines in motion.

It's probably some long-buried genetic memory - a deeply-repressed instinct screaming "Fuck, man - generations ago you were beaning motherfuckers with rocks to take possession of rotting deer carcasses. Ask that barman to top up your pint or shame your ancestors, you raging pansy!"

Posted by: Dill The Devil at October 13, 2011 7:42 PM

So is it going to be realistic? 95% of the time waiting on your ass for anything to happen, 5% of the time utterly terrified? Are they going to deal with the utter insanity that are operational guidelines that are both retarded and dangerous to follow? Maybe the joys that is Naval...scratch that...military intelligence? Coming home to a wife that has been cheating on you and blowing through your cash and its your fault cause your not home. Or getting to prop up regimes that not only are hated by their citizens, but treat the US military like fucking dogs to do their dirty work?

I'm sorry...am I projecting?

Seriously, even "if" they are doing "real" SEAL missions, using real SEALS as actors, its basically fluff. This sounds like just one long commercial for the Navy, where just like the TV ads, everyone is a SEAL or a missile tech. I love how they don't mention that you'll be cleaning toilets (no matter what your job is) and its extremely low tech. Hell, I had to use a fucking slide rule to operate a nuclear core...and this was in the mid 2000's.

Posted by: Diablo at October 14, 2011 12:37 AM