FILM REVIEW OF "LONE SURVIVOR" (2013)

Mark Wahlberg struggles to stay alive in war-torn Afghanistan throughout "Friday Night Lights" director Peter Berg's "Lone Survivor," (*** OUT OF ****) a heroic but tragic combat chronicle co-starring Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana. This gritty, profane, but ill-fated secret mission saga about former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell's battlefield exploits qualifies as an entertaining but predictable saga. Basically, this blood, sweat, and tears, mission-gone-awry movie reminded me of Ridley Scott's grueling warfare spectacle "Black Hawk Down." Scott's actioneer dealt with a disastrous mission in Somalia, back in 1993, when U.S. Rangers were dispatched to snatch two warlords out of a town teeming with heavily armed fanatics. They encountered chaos galore and had to fight for their lives. Comparably smaller in scale, "Lone Survivor" lacks the harrowing intensity of "Black Hawk Down." Our desperate "Lone Survivor" hero endures a nightmare-experience that lesser souls would never have survived. Sadly, his three SEAL team unit members caught none of his breaks. Nevertheless, while watching "Lone Survivor," I didn't feel like I was dodging a firestorm of ordnance as I did when I sat through "Black Hawk Down." Despite its two-hour plus length, "Lone Survivor" never bogs down. Although Berg's combat choreography lacks the visceral quality of "Black Hawk Down," the "Lone Survivor" stunts look and sound very physical. Scenes of soldiers plummeting down the sides of craggy mountains made me flinch. Recently, I fell and shattered by right elbow so every time one of the SEALs struck either a rocky outcropping or a tree, I cringed at the sickening sounds. Specifically, Berg doesn't emphasize the predicament that ricocheting bullets posed. If you read the frank and outspoken Luttrell, whose memoir Berg adapted, the SEAL team member wrote about how ricochets could prove as menacing as the shots themselves. Most of the time, the SEALs find themselves trapped in terrain with scant foliage. Meaning, it was doubly difficult for them to hide not only from the flying lead but also ricochets. Unlike Luttrell, Berg doesn't dwell at length on the fatal mistake and its consequences as much as Luttrell's memoir. Instead, Berg winds up depicting the SEALs as honorable men who refused to take the easy way out of a moral quandary.

"Lone Survivor" covers the three days during Operation Red Wing when an elite four-man unit of Navy SEALs set out to capture Taliban chieftain Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami of "Crank") in the rugged Hindu Kush Mountains of the Kunar Province. They want Ahmad because he masterminded the murder of 20 American soldiers. Like the disastrous mission in "Black Hawk Down," the "Lone Survivor" heroes are conducting business-as-usual until everything that can go wrong goes horrendously wrong. Similarly, like "Black Hawk Down," "Lone Survivor" derives its narrative from a factual, eyewitness account. During the opening credits, Berg gives us a glimpse at wannabe Navy SEALs negotiating a gauntlet of an obstacle course. Grainy, documentary-style footage of SEALs enduring the worst that you can imagine outside of combat foreshadows the tenacity of our heroes. They can take a licking and keep on ticking. Afterward, we meet the quartet of warriors and enjoy their easy-going camaraderie. Twenty-nine-year old Texas native Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg of "Ted") is a Hospital Corpsman who has no idea how complicated his life will be on his next mission. Luttrell's friends, Lt. Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch of "John Carter"), Gunner's Mate Danny P. Dietz (Emile Hirsch of "Savages"); and Sonar Technician Matthew "Axe" Axelson (Ben Foster of "3:10 to Yuma"), are just as oblivious. Thoughts about home and their loved ones dominate their thoughts. No sooner have they reached their objective than an elderly goat herder and two boys accidentally stumble onto them in the brush. Our heroes capture these Taliban loyalists and take them prisoner. Lieutenant Murphy boils down their options. First, they can execute their hostages. Second, they can leave them tied to trees in the wilderness like snacks for wild animals. Third, they can release them and scrub the mission. Our heroes behave like noble western gunfighters. They decide to turn the shepherd and his sons loose. Luttrell and company believe they can clear out before the enemy show up. Unfortunately, our heroes find themselves suddenly surrounded by an army of Taliban terrorists armed with AK-47 assault rifles with an inexhaustible supply of ammunition. In his memoir, Luttrell compared their predicament to Custer's Last Stand. Afterward, a running gun battle follows with our heroes mowing down terrorists by the dozens. The problem is the Taliban have the SEALs hopelessly outnumbered and our heroes have nowhere to go. Worse, the SEALs have trouble getting a clear signal so they can contact headquarters and summon relief helicopter gunships!

Characterization remains sketchy at best in "Lone Survivor." Indeed, we never gain much insight into the Americans as three dimensional characters. Berg treats the quartet of SEALs as if they were an ensemble so you're not sure initially who is going to buy the farm. No single character lords it over the others in spite of their respective ranks. Not surprisingly, the Americans emerge as sympathetic, but the filmmakers don't demonize the Taliban. Primarily, Berg keeps the villains at arm's length. The Taliban amounts to pugnacious, trigger-happy, dastards. Essentially, they resemble the hordes of Apache Indians in a cavalry western. We know little about them except that they are miserable marksmen, wear too much eye-liner, and live only to slaughter Americans with extreme prejudice. Surprisingly, Berg shuns any geopolitical messages or cultural bias. The sloppy but violent combat sequences will keep you distracted from diatribes from either side. "Lone Survivor" is a good movie, but you won't want to see it more than once.

REVIEW OF ''WRATH OF THE TITANS" (2012)

If you applauded the larger-than-life heroics in “Clash of the Titans,” you’ll probably embrace the derivative exploits “Wrath of the Titans” (**1/2 out of ****) delivers in less time than the original.  Greek mythology tales have never really gone out of fashion. The spectacle of warriors wielding weapons forged by the gods against supernatural monsters reached its zenith during the early 1960s when the Italians produced a plethora of sword and sandal sagas about Hercules, Goliath, Maciste, and Samson.  These epic adventures didn’t take themselves as seriously as their contemporary counterparts have. Most recently, “Troy” (2004), “Alexander,” (2004), “300” (2006), “Clash of the Titans” (2010), and “Immortals” (2011) have been released. “Wrath of the Titans” qualifies as an above-average entry in the CGI special effects laden genre where gods, men, and monsters scrimmage.  Don’t confuse “Wrath of the Titans” with last year’s similarly themed “Immortals.”  Comparatively, the two PG-13 rated “Titans” spectacles are considerably less savage and sadistic than “Immortals.”  While “Clash of the Titans” served as an origins epic, “Wrath” concerns most of the same characters about ten years later. 

In “Clash of the Titans,” the infant demigod Perseus was condemned to die with his mother in a casket plunged into the sea.  Miraculously, Perseus survived.  A humble fisherman, Spyros (Pete Postlethwaite), rescued Perseus and adopted him.  As he grew up, Perseus shunned the gods until Zeus recruited him to save the city of Argos.  Hades, the cruel god of the Tartarus, loosened the legendary sea monster the Kraken with Zeus’ blessing to destroy the city of Argo if the citizens didn’t sacrifice Andromeda.  Defiantly, Perseus and several Argos soldiers embarked on a quest for anything which would enable them to kill the Kraken.  Ultimately, our resourceful hero tangled with the malevolent Medusa.  Half-woman and half-snake, this deadly dame had scores of vipers sprouting from her head rather than curls.  A mere glance at Medusa’s face would petrify any mortal.  Ingeniously, Perseus found a way to decapitate Medusa without eyeballing her.  Perseus saved Princess Andromeda from a fate worse than death and defeated the enormous creature with Medusa’s head. 

“Battle Los Angeles” director Jonathan Liebesman’s “Wrath of the Titans” emerges as a polished but predictable fantasy that imitates its predecessor.  Everybody who made “Clash” doesn’t show up for “Wrath.”  Happily, Sam Worthington returns as Zeus’ rebellious son Perseus who wants little to do with his all-powerful patriarch.  Instead of a boot camp cut, Perseus has a perm that makes him look like Gordon Scott of “Goliath” fame.  Perseus prefers to fish on the seas instead of parade around Mount Olympus.  Despite the tragic death of his wife Io (Gemma Arterton) in “Clash of the Titans,” Perseus has a son, ten-year old Helius (John Bell of “Battleship”), to raise alone.  Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Danny Huston reappear respectively as Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.  Rosamund Pike replaces Alexa Davalos as Andromeda.  This time around Andromeda is more pugnacious.  Decked out in combat regalia, she leads her army into battle against the Titans.  The biggest difference now is that the gods are losing their power because humans aren’t praying to them.  Places of worship lay in ruins. When humanity doesn’t offer prayers to the gods, the power of gods wane, and “Wrath of the Titans” marks a turning point in the franchise.  

If the third entry in the “Titans” franchise—“Revenge of the Titans”--materializes, Zeus and company may appear only as memories.  Presumably, Hades won’t be able to summon another colossal beast from the bowels of the Underworld.  Like its predecessor, “Wrath of the Titans” concerns father and son issues as well as brother versus brother scores.  We learn that Zeus and company endured quite a family feud that ended with them imprisoning their evil father Kronos in Tartarus.  Essentially, Kronos constitutes the equivalent of the Kraken.  Since all blockbusters struggle to top each other, “Wrath of the Titans” pits Perseus against Kronos. Kronos doesn’t want to demolish a single city.  He wants to wipe out mankind.  Whereas the Kraken was a giant sea beast, Kronos is a towering fire god.  Scenarists Dan Mazeau, David Leslie Johnson, and Greg Berlanti make Kronos the equivalent of a lava-spewing volcano.  Earlier, the Kraken made a pretty formidable foe.  One glance at Kronos, however, is enough to make you change your underwear . Imagine what Hellboy would look like if he were the size of Optimus Prime in the “Transformers” movies, and you’ll have a good idea how this immense fiend stacks up to ordinary mortals.

Perseus sets out with Poseidon's illegitimate offspring, Agenor (Toby Kebbell of “RocknRolla”), and Queen Andromeda (Pike) to not only rescue Zeus but also to destroy Kronos.  Earlier, the treacherous Hades and Ares (Édgar Ramírez of “Domino”) double-crossed Zeus and imprisoned him in the Underworld.  Our heroes embark on a scavenger hunt for items.  Along the way, they confront a couple of angry Cyclops and take a beating from them until they befriend them as they did with the giant scorpions named Scorpiochs.  Agenor helps Perseus find the fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy of " Valkyrie "), and Hephaestus shows them the best way to enter Tartarus since he designed it. Eventually, Perseus learns that he must synthesize Zeus’ Thunderbolt, Hades' Pitchfork, and Poseidon’s Trident as a weapon to vanquish Kronos.  In “Star Wars” fashion, our protagonist must take a fiery ride on Pegasus down Kronos’ gullet to dispense the fatal blow.  

“Wrath of the Titans” is amusing hokum.  The stupendous CGI special effects make this 99-minute opus worth watching.  Perseus cuts his teeth on the Chimera. This two-headed, airborne beast with a snake head on its tail attacks him first and then he tackles a couple of towering Cyclops. The maze that our indestructible hero blunders through is more interesting than the Minotaur which he dehorns.  Liebesman stages these audacious battles with vim and vigor.  Perseus looks woebegone by the time he delivers the death blow to his adversary.  “Wrath of the Titans” tops “Clash of the Titans.”