‘Act of Valor’ delivers

 
According to Webster’s Dictionary, valor means “Strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness; Personal bravery.”
For filmmakers to title a movie with such a powerful word, with such a powerful phrase ”Act of Valor,” I’d expect to be blown away with not only action scenes, but something more, something to make me leave the theatre with a thought provoking mindset and with a brand-new respect for the military in general.
“Act of Valor” did just that.
We watch plain men transform into warriors as they say their goodbyes to their wives and children. Simply leaving their civilian lives at home, we watch men run to the front lines to protect and serve their own.
The movie starts with a brutal act of terror, which transforms into an intricate scheme to smuggle suicide bombers into the United States through Mexico.  It’s a basic, but reasonable, plot that is designed to put forth one riveting event after another. Interrogation, infiltration, espionage and more, but the film barely develops the main characters.
The acting, of course, was a little shoddy. The reason being that the director used real Navy SEALs as actors, not actors playing Navy SEALs. The movie has real everything, real AKrifles, real hollow-point ammunition, real SEALs, and – most importantly -real emotion. If you don’t like the acting, don’t worry; there is still plenty of action.
Much of the cinematography is even shot like a first-person shooter​ game (through the eyes of the shooter), with a few cutaways to the SEALs personal points of view. It’s clear that the film has a “Call of Duty” kind of feel to it which some people might not like, but to gamers it cinematic genius.
In the words of Agent Morales, “When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”
Despite it’s criticism, there’s no doubt that you will be touched by this movie in one way or another.