Escape to the Movies: Act of Valor

[Leadfinger]

You seemed really scared about pissing anyone off in this review Bob, kind of a change from what we normally see. We're used to seeing you shout off your opinion without a care for who it offends, and I like that. You didn't really need to tell us all how you respect the SEALs every 20 seconds, you could have just said it once.

But anyway, I'm not particularly fond of the whole Gung ho action war movie, so chances are I'm not going to watch this.

I agree. By his abject and cringing abasement of himself to the military, Bob has made a pitiful spectacle in this review.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

Okay, as someone who was in the military, the amount of ignorance on this thread is incredible. Why does MovieBob feel the need to say that he respects the SEALS? Because they deserve respect. Go on YouTube and just look at their training. I doubt any of you know what it feels like to be cold, wet, tired, and away from your family for months at a time. Does the military fuck up? Yes. But not as often as we are led to believe. Do things like the events portrayed in Act of Valor happen? All the damn time. There are hundreds of near-misses.

It is easy to say that you should respect the SEALs for the hellish training they go through, but completely disregard the special forces of other countries who go through about as hellish or even more so training, because they are not SEALs. The Spetsnaz probably has the most hellish of them all, but all russians are pansies, am I right?

Oh, and sure the soldiers of the US are very much well respected... as long as the populace don't know anything personal about them. As long as they're not gay or, DEAR GOD, atheists (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hWYXWfLsQ6g#t=118s)! American Presidents have said atheist soldiers don't deserve being honored. George W. Bush uttered those exact following words: "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." In the US soldiers only deserve respect if they fall into both those groups: Are american and are proper god-fearing christians. A soldier killing random Iraqis all the way on the other side of the globe? A hero. An Iraqi with a decades old AK protecting his home against american looters? A terrorist. Russian soldiers doing the exact same thing as american soldiers elsewhere? Blatant disregard for human life and the Genevra Convention.

A soldier is a soldier. A very well trained soldier is still a soldier who is probably more dangerous because his training desensitized him. And every soldier is a hero as long as he is a soldier for your country (with the proper religious background) and every soldier is an inexcusable murderer as long as he is from anywhere else (or is a mercenary with a non-american paycheck).

 

[Hiroshi Mishima]

I'm gonna go ahead and call it as I saw it: When I first saw the trailer for this and learned the premise of the film, my initial thoughts were "Oh gods, not another military propaganda film."

Now, whether it is or isn't and whether it's effective or not is entirely debatable. The thing for me is that I KNOW Seals are badasses cause everyone keeps saying so, I will resist pointing out the obvious problem with that. I don't need to see a movie glorifying them or showing how "awesome" it is to work in the military. I get enough of that malarkey on television commercials and the odd teaser before a movie starts in theaters.

I'm honestly not going to see this, nor am I even really interested. I don't care much for the military, nor do I have much trust in the government. That said, I'm not a troublemaker so I have nothing to worry about. Besides, just cause I don't care about it, doesn't mean there aren't a buttload of people out there ready to leap in and say "BUT I DO!!" in my stead, for whatever reason.

Kinda like how I don't give a damn about this "God" person, and merely acknowledge the possibility while leaving well enough alone. I know there's scads of people out there who DO believe, so the loss of one person's voice isn't going to make a whole lotta difference.

Sometimes I wish it did, insofar as the media/music/game industry goes, but it doesn't.

 

[Volkov]

Well, bad review of a horrendous film. Not surprising.

1. What the fuck are you apologizing for? It IS as propaganda as propaganda gets. It's the textbook definition of propaganda. Why apologize for calling it out on it???
2. Criticizing military is a hell of a lot more patriotic than sucking its balls. NOONE should shake at the knees (OMG my viewers won't like me if I don't cover myself in apologies like my mom covered herself with sperm on an average Tuesday in her preteen years!) doing so.

Edit:
3. It made you more likely give them a high-five. That in itself shows that at least the EFFECT was that of propaganda (different from recruitment; there will always be strong people in poverty for the military to recruit, but public support is where their MONEY comes from, which is why that's what they really worry about, not recruitment); it's debatable whether or not that's a good thing, obviously, but it's experimentally demonstrated that it had the effect of propaganda.

 

[Yojoo]

I totally understand why much of the running time of this film is thanking the SEALs. It's hard to criticize a movie about something without criticizing the content of that movie. I mean, if Hotel Rwanda had been a terrible movie, do you think critics wouldn't take the time to acknowledge that the situation in Rwanda is still terrible even though the movie didn't represent it well?

There's no inconsistency here. Calling Michael Bay a douchebag is a far cry from insulting the Navy SEALs.

 

[Griffolion]

I wonder what a non-American would think about the propaganda-level of this film.

It's done over here in the UK too, just not as... big and flashy as you guys in the US do.

The Royal Marines Commandos have adverts on Facebook (more notably to those who expressed a liking to CoD or Battlefield as games).

 

[Dastardly]

As the saying goes, "People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." People can cry about the horrors of war, and how awful all of it is, but it's easy for them to forget that the reason they're free to do so is because we've got men ready to bear that burden for us.

The people you NEVER hear about do far more than any soldier to let "People sleep peacefully in their beds at night". Intelligence and scientific services are never heard about and conducted in complete secrecy with no one doing any of these jobs even admitting to what they do. Without either of these no army, navy or airforce would be effective.

Without intelligence, there's nothing to act upon. Without people to act upon it, intelligence is useless. Trying to prioritize the two is like arguing over which of your legs is more important.

 

[Dastardly]

Speaking as a european who has served in the Norwegian military.

The military is usually not the ones to blame for civilan casaulties at all, the politicians that put them in the situation are. The horrors of war and modern armed conflicts should be known to everyone so that politicians are never allowed to use military force lightly. In a working democracy, the voters are to blame. If I should mention a current hot potato, The Iraq war, very well handeled, military wise, but the reasons for starting it were laughable.

TLDR:
I respect the US military, but not always the ones that control it.

I agree, especially that the voters are to blame. War is horrible, and too many of us are unable to accept that. We want sanitized wars (like we used to believe we had back before 24-7 news coverage).

And when we don't get that? When there are mistakes and losses and horrible things? People want to tie the hands of the military. It's the old, "I don't know how to do your job, but I know you're doing it wrong" routine.

 

[Jimmybobjr]

Edit: Deleted post, Wrong topic.

 

[Jegsimmons]

i wonder how many people on this site will criticize the movie only on a political standpoint and not an non-objective point like bob did?

and as much as people claim this is propaganda for the military gun-ho side, think about this: these movies come out once every few years if at all, the anti-war, west is wrong, and military is bad movie comes out almost every year.
Avatar
Platoon
Generation Kill
Shooter
ect.

And frankly i want to see a 'john Wayne style green beret' movie to balance all this shit out. Its annoying. At least when the Pro troop movie is out, its at least somewhat subtle and less preachy, aside from this movie we have only like, Black Hawk Down and the green berets.

 

[Jegsimmons]

Im still waiting for another Black Hawk Down. Im not gonna get one here, I guess.

Wait until ridley scott is done with Prometheus i guess.

Or maby the red dawn remake

 

[Eveonline100]

One thing I never understood about the Navy Seals was their name.

Is it seal as in "Seal of Approval" or seal as in the animal? Or other?

seal is meant to be an acroyneme SEa Air Land(don't ask how i know i was just watching TV one day and passed by a documernty on the subject).Any who thats the reason i think.

 

[lightbound]

Honestly it was a little difficult to watch with all the "asking for forgiveness" and pro-seal rambling. I just want to know how good the movie is, and it's hard to get a feel for that when he's constantly covering his tracks with forgiveness. Especially as a non-American the whole review kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, I know that the seals are "badass" but I don't want to watch a movie review that spews that out over and over again instead of actually... I dunno, reviewing the movie.

I guess a big part of it comes from the American perspective and the general position of people not wanting to demean their military, which is O.K; I would probably feel equally compelled if it was my country in question. I just wonder if Bob would give the same level of respect for a movie focusing on a foreign force, though to be fair he isn't really obligated to.

 

[Simonism451]

i wonder how many people on this site will criticize the movie only on a political standpoint and not an non-objective point like bob did?

and as much as people claim this is propaganda for the military gun-ho side, think about this: these movies come out once every few years if at all, the anti-war, west is wrong, and military is bad movie comes out almost every year.
Avatar
Platoon
Generation Kill
Shooter
ect.

And frankly i want to see a 'john Wayne style green beret' movie to balance all this shit out. Its annoying. At least when the Pro troop movie is out, its at least somewhat subtle and less preachy, aside from this movie we have only like, Black Hawk Down and the green berets.

Yes, Generation Kill and its hardline anti-military statements

 

[l3o2828]

I know this is completly unrelated, but i've always wanted to know what MovieBob thinks of the movie Lost In Translation...just curious...

Other than that,i liked this review, i disagree with it, but i respect it.

 

[Jegsimmons]

i wonder how many people on this site will criticize the movie only on a political standpoint and not an non-objective point like bob did?

and as much as people claim this is propaganda for the military gun-ho side, think about this: these movies come out once every few years if at all, the anti-war, west is wrong, and military is bad movie comes out almost every year.
Avatar
Platoon
Generation Kill
Shooter
ect.

And frankly i want to see a 'john Wayne style green beret' movie to balance all this shit out. Its annoying. At least when the Pro troop movie is out, its at least somewhat subtle and less preachy, aside from this movie we have only like, Black Hawk Down and the green berets.

Yes, Generation Kill and its hardline anti-military statements

not sure what you are getting at because that is not a complete sentence.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Okay, as someone who was in the military, the amount of ignorance on this thread is incredible. Why does MovieBob feel the need to say that he respects the SEALS? Because they deserve respect. Go on YouTube and just look at their training. I doubt any of you know what it feels like to be cold, wet, tired, and away from your family for months at a time. Does the military fuck up? Yes. But not as often as we are led to believe. Do things like the events portrayed in Act of Valor happen? All the damn time. There are hundreds of near-misses.

Obviously different people believe different things are worthy of respect. Yes, they have to endure difficult conditions and perform impressive physical feats, but they generally do these things on behalf of a government carrying out an illegal war in countries where no one wants them. In my eyes that makes them quite the opposite of deserving of respect. In my eyes that makes them either cruel, stupid or both. Even when they're not fucking up their actions are questionable at best.

The amount of ass kissing in the video was definitely a bit disturbing. Perhaps it's only natural for a fat man to have admiration for people with the ability to move without pulling a muscle.

 

[Thunderpants]

i wonder how many people on this site will criticize the movie only on a political standpoint and not an non-objective point like bob did?

and as much as people claim this is propaganda for the military gun-ho side, think about this: these movies come out once every few years if at all, the anti-war, west is wrong, and military is bad movie comes out almost every year.
Avatar
Platoon
Generation Kill
Shooter
ect.

And frankly i want to see a 'john Wayne style green beret' movie to balance all this shit out. Its annoying. At least when the Pro troop movie is out, its at least somewhat subtle and less preachy, aside from this movie we have only like, Black Hawk Down and the green berets.

Yes, Generation Kill and its hardline anti-military statements

not sure what you are getting at because that is not a complete sentence.

I think he's trying to say that Generation Kill isn't really anti-war. To me it just showed us what it was like to be on the front lines during Operation Iraqi Freedom.