Lone Survivor

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kingfhb

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I was able to go to the premier of Lone Survivor on Tuesday the 7th for a Sneak Peek of the movie. I must say that Peter Berg stuck to the demand that the consulting SEAL and SOF members challenged him with by maintaining a realism level throughout the movie.

I overheard others in the theater comment during the "cliff fall" scenes, that there was NO WAY they would have survived that... those people obviously have never met someone with the determination and fearlessness of a United States Navy SEAL.

Those of you who read the book, there are a lot of areas missing from the movie, as well as some of the gorier details. The story line was changed up for the movie, such as Marcus not knowing where anyone was or how they died. On the other hand, the book readers will appreciate that some, if not all of the lull in the story was taken out. This movie is action packed from the first contact to the closing credits.

From the families and SEAL brothers, it was said that watching Ben Foster play the role of Matt Axelson was like watching Axe on the screen... he portrayed him true to life and to the honor of Matt "Axe" Axelson.

Mike Murphy's family was quoted as saying that they got to see their son one more time.

I personally thought the movie was incredible. Mark Wahlberg, while showing some of his typical traits while on screen (watch the movie and you will know what I mean), did a great job playing the role of Marcus.

If you watch closely, the actual "Lone Survivor", Marcus Luttrel has numerous cameo spots throughout the movie.

I would have to say that this movie truly shows the heroism, "undaunted courage", and determination to "stay in the fight" that the men of the JSOC community posses. It truly portrays the actions of SEAL Team 10 that posthumously earned Lt. Michael P. Murphy the Medal of Honor, as well as awarded Petty Officer Second Class Matt "Axe" Axelson and Petty Officer Second Class Daniel "Danny" Dietz with the Navy Cross.

It was respectful to the heroes of the film, as well as the 16 members of SEAL Team 10, SDV Team 2, and the members of the 106th SOAR Squadron that perished when their CH-47 "Turbine 33" was shot down during the rescue attempt, at the time... the largest loss of life to the SEAL community to date. Mainly by not focusing on the crash, but rather leaving the glory to the four man team that the movie was set around.

Stick around after the film to see personal images of all those lost on that fateful day... including images of Marcus with his son, as well as Marcus with Mohammad Gulab Khan.

All-in-all... amazing movie. Made me want to reenlist that day.
 
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I read the book years ago and have been looking forward to this movie. The book is hard enough to read in public. It tends to get dusty wherever you sit down with it. I can imagine the movie is going to be just as emotional.
 
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this will be moved for sure but everyone says read the book, I hate reading but watched the movie 2 weeks ago it thought it was pretty good. The movie had been available in HD for week if you know what im talking about!!!
 
I'm not a big reader, but I read the book last year in two days. (couldn't put it down). Going to see the movie next friday.
 
A couple of weeks ago there was a special viewing here in Littleton to support Danny Dietz's foundation. His father, mother and sister were in attendance as was Emile Hirsch the actor that portrayed Danny. Emile became very close with the Dietz family and has stayed in touch with Danny's mom Cindy. They said they were amazed at his portrayal of Danny. It was a pretty low key event, some current and former SEALs in attendance as well as many that knew Danny and his family.

I agree completely in your assesment of the film, it was a gut wrenching experience. I despise Mark Wahlberg but was able to move past that to get into the story. I read the book when it first came out, sent it to my son on deployment-it made it's way around the fob and stayed for others to read when he left.

Plan on taking my younger son to it in the next couple of days (opens officially tomorrow here).

As much as many times I'm "less than pleased" with 60 Minutes last month they had a 2 part interview with Marcus Luttrell, if you haven't seen it it's a definite "must watch".
 
I'm not going to see the movie because Mark Wahlberg is anti-2A. I'm not going to give money to a guy who is anti-2A but makes his money off of making movies that use firearms.

I will buy the book though.

Edit to update:

Mark Wahlberg: “I believe Charlton Heston is America’s best villain because he loves guns so much. Maybe he should get the award for being president of the National Rifle Association.” But his anti-gun attitude didn’t stop there. “Well, I would love it if they could take all the guns away. Unfortunately, you can’t do that so you hope that good people in the world have them to protect the people who can’t protect themselves,” “Certainly, I haven’t used a gun anywhere other than on a movie set and I’d like to see if we could take them all away. It would be a beautiful thing.”
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source
 
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I read (audio version) when it first came out. Not sure if I will see the movie. I do follow Marcus Luttrell in the news and on YouTube appearances.

edit: Please consider supporting our returning troops by regular contributions to the many organizations like Wounded Warrior.
 
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I can't even imagine what those guys went through.
My hat is off and heart hurts for their loss.
May this country continue to produce them though, for all our sakes.
 
I read the book because I had some buddies who were Seals in the Navy. They are true heroes in my book. The training they went through was unbelievable. I can't believe how now they can tell everyone their names. When I was in they could not or would not. What changed? Can't wait to watch the movie!
 
Texas Star said:
Is this Wahlberg related to the one on, "Blue Bloods"? They have some facial resemblance.
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Brothers. Soon to have a reality show on A&E about their new restaurant,aptly named "Wahlburgers."
f.t.

I should mention that the third brother,Paul,will actually be running the day-to-day business activities.
 
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I saw it and loved it, Best movie I've seen in a long time!! I highly recommend it. The movie is getting very good reviews. The only bad reviews I have seen were bad based solely on the political point of view of the reviewer.
 
I read the book and it was excellent. Lt. Michael Murphy is from my town Patchogue, NY and attended the same high school as me but mnay years later. I hope the movie honors the men and woman of the armed forces especially the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice that day.
 
Haven't seen this one yet but I did see Bill Orielly talking to the guy that this is about and I guess he wrote the book and then Hollywood took over. The interview was short but good and I need to see this film.
 
I just got home from seeing today. Well worth it seeing it on the big screen.
 
It was filmed near here just East of town. The land used has land grant disputed ownership and now there is a fight - lawsuit on whether or not the film company paid the wrong folks.
 
Great book.Very intense movie.Some of most realistic filming I have ever seen.I have the greatest respect for these men and what they endure in training alone.We can not allow these men be forgotten.I still feel Universal Military Service should be US policy.We all should have some "skin in the game".Surely many young people nowadays couldn't make the military grade,but why not something like the CCC of the Roosevelt era.All the hearts bleed about saving "self esteem".What better way than being productive,learning responsibility and discipline and respect of self and country.
 
My wife and I were visiting our son in San Marcos (Texas), a college town, and decided to see "Lone Survivor". The theater was full of a mixed aged crowd. There was a lot of talking and laughing during the previews but when the movie started everyone was quiet for the next two hours. The entire audience gave a big round of applause at the end of the movie.

It brought back memories of my father (now deceased) who retired as a SGM after 28 years of service. He was in Korea and Vietnam and received a Purple Heart when he was seriously wounded in Korea. My father was a soldier who loved the USA and fought for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of this great nation.

Rest in peace Dad. God Bless all the men and women that are serving or have served in all of our military branches.
 
SPOILER ALERT!

The movie opens with "based on a true story," which set off alarm bells for me. That means the director took a lot of license with the facts and the book, which I read. Marcus Luttrell, the lone SEAL survivor was a consultant on the film and apparently is happy with the way it turn out in representing his story.

I saw the movie last night and would give it high marks as an action film. The acting, cinematography and directing were first-rate. Character development fell somewhat short but how much can you cram into 2 hours and change?

What bothered me were two major differences between the book and movie:

1. When the SEAL team encountered the goats and three herdsmen, a discussion ensued as to what to do with them. Lt. Michael Murphy who led the group of 3 enlisted guys said there were three options: kill them, tie them up or let them go. He then asked his team for opinions and they were generally split on what to do. In the book, Murphy put it to a vote and at Luttrell's urging they decided to let the goatherders go. However, in the film, Murphy, rightly as officer and leader of the team, makes the call. This is an important plot discrepancy. Officers should always decide. The military is not a democracy. Perhaps the filmmaker and Marcus wanted to show that Murphy was truly in charge but if it happened the way Marcus said in the book then it's quite a different story.
2. In the book, Marcus, his legs badly wounded, has to virtually crawl six miles to safety with no pants, which were blown away in the firefights. In the movie, he's wearing pants and walks his way into the arms of friendly Afghans not far away.

Other differences between book and movie: Marcus never saw the helo get shot down; he was on the other side of the mountain. In the film, he sees it first-hand. And there were many others, mostly minor but still enough to make me wonder how much a man, who was so badly wounded, under duress and hallucinating much of the time until his rescue could accurately remember the sequence of events as they occurred, much less the dialog.

I believe Marcus and his fellow SEALS acted with the highest degree of honor and courage and deserve all the praise heaped upon them. I am a Navy veteran and thought the film was realistic in its portrayal of military life. But I believe a great deal of dramatic license was taken in order to present these men in the best possible light and downplay the numerous mistakes made in planning and executing Operation Redwings, which had failure stamped all over it from the get-go. The biggest of which was dropping 4 SEALS into unknown territory in the black of night with a vague mission without adequate backup. There is a great deal of discussion about ROE (rules of engagement), which caused confusion and hesitation among the team as to whether they should or should not kill the goatherders. Marcus said it was the biggest mistake he ever made in advocating for their release. But he was worried about the political fallout back home.

Finally, the film avoids any conclusions about whether the U.S. should have been and still have a military role in Afghanistan. SEALS did their duty as they were ordered to do and they did it admirably, but questions linger about the wisdom of fighting a war that was and is essentially a dispute among Afghans alone.

All in all, a great book and great film, these observations notwithstanding.
 
In the past 8 years I've gotten to know some of Danny Dietz's family. They've had two private showings in the Littleton area, most recently this past Friday. Tiffany, Danny's sister said that at first she said it wasn't her brother up on the screen but as the film went on it was him. She became very emotional, understandable, and is very content with the telling of the story.

Dan Sr. Danny's father, said he hasn't seen Marcus but that he loves him as his own son. The family has 2 foundations in Danny's name, the latest showing was a fund raiser for them both.
My older son is @ Ft. Hood about to leave for Afghanistan, Friday night he & his company went as a group to see the film. He called his wife to tell her not to see it right now, he said he's glad he saw it-he read the book on a previous deployment, at this point he said one viewing of the film is enough. He's also no a fan of Mark Wahlberg but said the film is bigger than one actor-I agree.
 
S&W Fan said:
In the past 8 years I've gotten to know some of Danny Dietz's family. They've had two private showings in the Littleton area, most recently this past Friday. Tiffany, Danny's sister said that at first she said it wasn't her brother up on the screen but as the film went on it was him. She became very emotional, understandable, and is very content with the telling of the story.

Dan Sr. Danny's father, said he hasn't seen Marcus but that he loves him as his own son. The family has 2 foundations in Danny's name, the latest showing was a fund raiser for them both.
My older son is @ Ft. Hood about to leave for Afghanistan, Friday night he & his company went as a group to see the film. He called his wife to tell her not to see it right now, he said he's glad he saw it-he read the book on a previous deployment, at this point he said one viewing of the film is enough. He's also no a fan of Mark Wahlberg but said the film is bigger than one actor-I agree.
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S&W Fan,

My father's last duty station was at Ft. Hood and he retired in Killeen (borders Ft. Hood). After graduating from Killeen High School I went to college for a couple of years and then joined the Killeen Police Department. I worked there for 32 years and retired at the rank of Lieutenant and was the Personnel/Training Coordinator and Range Master. I live about 30 miles away in the little town of Lampasas and would like to extend an invitation to your son to come out for a visit. If he likes to shoot, he can bring his guns & ammo (or I can supply both) and he can shoot out at our place. My wife and I have 365 acres just outside of town and have a small range there. Let me know if he's interested and I'll send you a PM on how he can contact me.

God bless our soldiers and may they return safely to their families.
 
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