Lone Survivor (January 10, 2014) R

(Left to right) Taylor Kitsch, Mark Wahlberg,
Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch
(Photo taken from fool.com)

Starring:
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Other Guys)
Taylor Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, John Carter)
Ben Foster (Alpha Dog, The Messenger)
Emile Hirsch (Alpha Dog, Into the Wild)
Eric Bana (Troy, Star Trek)

Bone-breakingly intense.

Those parts in the preview where you see the Navy Seals rolling down the mountain, and you think, "Wouldn't that hurt a Lot?"
YES.  They get hurt A LOT A LOT.

Ben Foster who plays Matt "Axe" Axelson

The acting was superior.  It really was.  But I think the acting was boosted quite a bit by the fact that Director/Writer Peter Berg (The Rundown, Hancock) seemed to have done a TON of homework on real-life military procedures, proper Seal lingo, and what happened to these real heroes.

Marcus Luttrell played by Mark Wahlberg

Seriously, this wasn't one of those dumb, shoot-em-up movies where the hero stands in the open hip-firing head-shots while the dumb bad guys can't hit squat.  This movie was SMART.  It was as smart as it was painful to watch sometimes.  Especially since it's based on a true story.

I always thought that whole Marine Corp, "You got shot?  Rub some dirt in it!"-thing was just a saying, like an inside joke or something.  Didn't know it was literal...

This is one of those movies that everyone should see so that we can better appreciate the sacrifices that our soldiers make for world freedom.  It's not for the feint of heart, though...

Taylor Kitsch who play Michael Murphy

I loved this movie, and I plan on seeing it a second time.  Not right away though, because it was really hard to watch at points.

Factoid: Despite the big names starring in this film, the total budget was only $40 million.  The Director, Peter Berg, accepted the minimum Director salary that the Director's Guild allows ($17,000/week) and both Wahlberg and Kitsch took major salary cuts.

Factoid: SEAL Marcus Luttrell was awarded the Navy Cross, and SEAL Michael Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.