A second theatrical preview was not-so-coincidentally unveiled yesterday (Veterans Day 2011) for Act of Valor, Relativity Media’s upcoming militaristic action-thriller that features a cast composed largely of actual active-duty Navy SEALs – along with realistic combat scenarios that were devised with the assistance of “unprecedented Naval access”.
This film was helmed by former stuntmen Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh, whose (collective) stunt work resume includes titles such as Speed, Spider-Man, The Italian Job, Bad Boys II, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and many, many others. Their experience working on said high-octane thrill rides looks to have serve them well, judging by the early Act of Valor footage.
Here is an official plot synopsis for Act of Valor:
When the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative leads to the discovery of a deadly terrorist plot against the U.S., a team of SEALs is dispatched on a worldwide manhunt. As the valiant men of Bandito Platoon race to stop a coordinated attack that could kill and wound thousands of American civilians, they must balance their commitment to country, team, and their families back home.
Each time they accomplish their mission, a new piece of intelligence reveals another shocking twist to the deadly terror plot, which stretches from Chechnya to the Philippines and from Ukraine to Somalia. The widening operation sends the SEALs across the globe as they track the terrorist ring to the U.S.-Mexico border, where they engage in an epic firefight with an outcome that has potentially unimaginable consequences for the future of America.
Now check out the second Act of Valor theatrical preview below:
Act of Valor arguably looks and sounds like a cinematic adaptation of a military-oriented video game (ex. the Battlefield and – dare it be said - Call of Duty franchises) in terms of its multiple mission-driven storyline and use of visual tropes like the “soldier POV cam.” The significant difference, of course, is that the tactics, maneuvers, equipment, and battle scenarios in Act of Valor are more grounded in reality – and thus, the film’s action scenes are aiming not to sacrifice authenticity for entertainment’s sake like those video game counterparts would.
The “downtime” and character/plot drama in Act of Valor has been largely left out of the film’s marketing campaign so far - which is understandable, given the action-driven nature of the project. What few bits of the dialogue scripted by Kurt Johnstad (300) shown up to now have been (largely) either perfunctory or a bit on the hammy side, but nothing too off-putting. So long as Johnstad, McCoy, and Waugh flesh out the movie’s characters enough so that viewers can actually connect with them, Act of Valor should be fine.
Real Navy SEALs will appear in 'Act of Valor'
One thing that should benefit Act of Valor at the box office: the film looks to be primarily a visceral experience that allows viewers to feel as though they are passive participants on a Navy SEAL mission.
That will hopefully allow Act of Valor to play out as neither an anti-military flick nor a piece of pro-military propaganda – but, instead, find a middle ground between those two extremes and simply be (first and foremost) an entertaining piece of cinema that leaves it to moviegoers to draw their own conclusions about the current state of affairs in the world.
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Act of Valor will arrive in theaters around the U.S. on February 17th, 2012.
Source: Crave Online
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Look intensely good.
Awesome! Go Navy!
Dope.
The film GI Joe will never be.
This movie will not sacrifice authenticity for entertainment? Oh so it’s NOT directed by Kathryn Bigelow then? Good, can’t wait.
like i said before, if the action is well shot (no wuick cuts, or cuts prior to people dying and distance camera to catch everything) and the realism of the violence is correct (in similar style though not as detailed as BHD) then this movie will be epic. i couldn’t care less about narrative, i just want to see combat that gives off a tense vibe (again like BHD).
I’ll more than likely be watching this, the action looks solid
This looks good but I hate the fireballs. If you are going to base a military film on realism then you don’t need fireballs for explosions and a truck getting hit head on by an RPG probably isn’t going to flip.
Well mr. acslaterson I guess you would have had to have served in a high spec ops unit to have experience at what you are talking about and my guess is that you’ve never served at all.
This movie started off as a recruitment video and grew into a movie with real Seals so I’m guessing its going to be real.
@Ex
Actually, he’s correct. I’m sure the tactics and a lot of the movie will be 100x more realistic than anything else in theater, but in the end, the studio still needs to make money, and fireball explosions is what people want to see. I think if they made the explosions look realistic, the majority of the people will think there’s something wrong. Not to mention, it’s hard to fake a realistic looking explosion since real explosions send a lot of shrapnel flying, while a fireball explosion kind of conceals the fact that the object being blown up isn’t really being blown to bits, so they can get away with it safely on set.
This movie sounds great, but as “acslaterson” said the fireballs were a tad to much. Hopefully that will be the limit for the experience over authenticity. For the last years I’ve felt that the said “EPIC” action scenes were not epic. The bigger, better explosions motto featured on many films have had the opposite effect on me, cause if anything is possible, then nothing is impossible and then why should I be amazed by the burning gasoline?
I think the problem there is two fold. For one, I think if they don’t do the fireballs, people will probably think there’s something wrong and won’t enjoy the action scenes. Unfortunately almost every movie does their explosions incorrectly in this way. Second, I think it’s actually harder to make a convincingly real looking explosion without really putting everyone at risk. The fireball kind of gives that impression of a big explosion without it actually throwing shrapnel 100 meters across the set…
You’re so right, it would be a nightmare to do, but I will remain hopeful that they might do one movie with real explosions. Because when you see a real one (Like on Mythbusters) you just know the dangerous and devastating power present, that a gigantic fireball can’t even come close to. The “downside” is that you can’t see a smug action hero walk away, while it burns behind him.
Best Realistic Game EVER!!!
Unofficial recruitment to US ARMY…..discusting.
Yah, it shold really be negative about the military and portray our troops as a bunch of a-holes out to kill innocent babies, yah, then it’ll be good… /sarcasm
frist off love and support your military men who give up thier weekends and have to be away from thier familys…..secondly learn to speel you mispelled disgusting…..
art stacey,
FYI, I support the military and served for 4 years quite a while ago. I will say this based on your comments (others I’ve seen from you).
First: Not too wise to correct someone on their spelling when your “correcting” comment has 4 misspelled words and no use of capitalization in sentences.
Second: Be respectful in your replies – even to people who are being boneheads because they’re going to call this “just a propaganda film.” Be the better man and a good example for the military you serve.
Vic
I will definately be seeing a movie made by the men whose job it is to keep us safe from radicals and terrorist the world over. I wonder how Hollywood is going to react to a movie that shows the true nature of what our men and women are up against in violent jihaddist.
Also, on top of the unrealistic looking explosions, another thing that is obviously fake looking are the RPG’s. Real RPG’s, rockets from recoiless weapons like the AT4, don’t “swooosh” downrange, they are MUCH faster and much more violent. The initial shot is more of an explosion out of the tube, not a gentle “swoosh” out like a bottle rocket. The projectile itself can probably cover 300 meters in about a second, so you don’t really SEE it flying nicely toward the target… In real life if you fire a RPG or AT4 at an object within 100 meters, it’ll be two big booms right after each other, one of it firing, the other of it hitting. Yes, all movies have it wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3xsMqHu56g
From 27 seconds on, those are how they really look like.
RPG-7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8_NF7cY4uY&feature=related
None of these idiots make sure their back blast area is clear… lol
I love these guys…
none of you know what its like to be in the military…yes i do three years over in the mog…and one year in korea, one state side….when in a fire fight you dont worry about back blast as much as you do geting shot your not a director….your just civilians…