Lone Survivor [Blu-ray]

Director: Peter Berg Peter Berg

Overview

Based on a true story, director Peter Berg's Lone Survivor stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Emile Hirsch as four Navy SEALs whose sensitive mission into the Afghan mountains is unexpectedly compromised, leading to a fierce skirmish with a small army of Taliban soldiers. The year is 2005. In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, the War in Afghanistan is well under way when military intelligence learns that a senior Taliban member is hiding out in a remote village deep in the Hindu Kush mountains of the Kunar Province. Convinced that his capture or killing could turn the tide of the difficult war in favor of the United States, the Navy SEALs hatch Operation Red Wings. The goal is simple -- send a select team of soldiers to stake out the village from the surrounding mountains, and move on their target when the time is right. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Michael Murphy (Kitsch), Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg), Matt Axelson (Foster), and Danny Dietz (Hirsch) reach their checkpoint, and quickly realize that another nearby hill will provide a better vantage spot. Shortly after arriving at that new location and getting a positive ID on their target, however, the soldiers are caught off guard by three wandering shepherds, including a young boy. Ultimately, a heated vote over what to do with the captured shepherds leads Lt. Murphy to decide that the best course of action is to abide by the rules of engagement, meaning that the soldiers will abort the mission, release the captives, and retreat to their extraction point. Shortly after the shepherds are set free, however, the four SEALs find themselves surrounded by dozens of Taliban soldiers, and engaged in a fierce gunfight that -- with the aid of some truly brave villagers -- only one of them will make it out of.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/15/2019
UPC:	0191329113837
Original Release:	2013
Rating:	R
Source:	Universal Studios
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:02:00
Sales rank:	23,651

Special Features

The fallen heroes of Operation Red Wings; Bringing the story to light; Will of the warrior; Recreating the firefight; Learning the basics; The Pashtun Code of Life; DVS 2.0; English SDH Subtitles

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ben Foster	Matt Axelson
Mark Wahlberg	Marcus Luttrell
Emile Hirsch	Danny Dietz
Taylor Kitsch	Mike Murphy
Eric Bana	Erik Kristensen
Alexander Ludwig	Shane Patton
Ali Suliman	Gulab
Yusef Azami	Shah
Rich Ting	James Suh
Dan Bilzerian	Healy
Jerry Ferrara	Hasslert
Rick Vargas	Crew Chief
Scott Elrod	QRF Seal
Gregory Rockwood	Chinook Pilot No. 1
Ryan Kay	Chinook Pilot No. 2
Patrick Griffin	Actor
Josh Berry	Communication SEAL
Eric Steinig	SEAL Lieutenant
David Shepard	Actor
Justin Tade	CJSOTF Marine
Sterling Jones	Bagram Comms Guy
Jason Riggins	50 Cal Gunner
Matthew Page	Army Intel Guy
Sammy Sheik	Taraq
Nicholas Patel	Goat Boy
Danny Arroyo	Teenage Goat Boy
Zarin Rahimi	Goat Man
Rohan Chand	Gulab's Young Son
Anthony McKenzie	TOC Sr. Air Officer
Brian Call	TOC SEAL
Ishmael Antonio	Doctor
Samuel J. Cloud	JAG
Peter Bici	Communication SEAL Perry
Henry Penzi	Villager
Robert Loerke	Captain Jacoby
Kurt Carlson	Captain Lovas
Daniel Fulcoly	Lt. Andrews
Michael Herrmann	Wallace
Paul Craig	"EOD" Paul
Zabiullah Mirzai	Zabi
John Hocker	Hocker
Robert Doudell	Village Elder
Edmund Blanchet	PJ No. 1
Jim Cusic	PJ No. 2
Steve Jablonsky	Composer
Explosions in the Sky	Composer

Technical Credits

Peter Berg

Peter Berg	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Norton Herrick	Producer
Vitaly Grigoriants	Producer
Stephen Levinson	Producer
Akiva Goldsman	Producer
Randall Emmett	Producer
Barry Spikings	Producer
Mark Wahlberg	Producer
George Furla	Executive Producer
Steven Saxton	Executive Producer
Jason Shuman	Executive Producer
Adi Shankar	Executive Producer
Remington Chase	Executive Producer
Lauren Selig	Executive Producer
Stepan Martirosyan	Executive Producer
Braden Aftergood	Executive Producer
Spencer Silna	Executive Producer
Brandt Andersen	Executive Producer
Simon Fawcett	Executive Producer
Jeff Rice	Executive Producer
Louis G. Friedman	Executive Producer
Mark Damon	Executive Producer
Linda Lowy	Casting
John Brace	Casting
David Brownlow	Sound Mixer
KNB EFX	Makeup Special Effects
Howard Berger	Makeup Special Effects
Gregory Nicotero	Makeup Special Effects
Kevin Scott	Stunts
Bruno Van Zeebroeck	Special Effects Supervisor
Sarah Aubrey	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The true story presented in director Peter Berg's Lone Survivor is a remarkable one that, in addition to exploring the bond of brotherhood that connects soldiers in the heat of combat, also serves as a reminder that heroes come in many forms. With a talented cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Taylor Kitsch, Berg's adaptation of Marcus Luttrell's New York Times best-seller succeeds in placing the viewer right in the action of a mission gone awry, though swelling military snare drums and overly dramatized death scenes hint that this version of the story may be thinly disguised jingoistic propaganda rather than a sincere attempt to tell a genuinely moving tale of survival against all odds. The year is 2005. In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, the Afghanistan War is well under way when military intelligence learns that a senior Taliban member is hiding out in a remote village deep in the Hindu Kush mountains of the Kunar province. Convinced that his capture or killing could turn the tide of the difficult war in favor of the United States, the Navy hatches Operation Red Wings. The goal is simple: Send a select team of SEALs to stake out the village from the surrounding mountains, and move on their target when the time is right. Under the leadership of Lt. Michael Murphy (Kitsch), Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg), Matt Axelson (Foster), and Danny Dietz (Hirsch) reach their checkpoint, and quickly realized that another nearby hill will provide a better vantage point. But shortly after arriving at the new location and getting a positive ID on their target, the soldiers are caught off guard by three wandering shepherds, one of them a young boy. Ultimately, a heated vote over what to do with the captured shepherds leads Lt. Murphy to decide that the best course of action is to abide by the rules of engagement, meaning that the soldiers will abort the mission, release the captives, and retreat to their extraction point. Shortly after the shepherds are set free, however, the SEALs find themselves surrounded by dozens of Taliban soldiers, and engage in a fierce gunfight that -- with the aid of some truly brave villagers -- only Luttrell will survive. A labor of love for director Berg (who agreed to make Battleship for Universal Pictures before moving on to this more personal project), Lone Survivor is at once a visceral action film and an unabashed tribute to the men and women of the U.S. military. Early scenes emphasizing the fraternal bond between Navy SEALS get things off to a lighthearted start as we gradually become acquainted with the team and learn about their lives outside the military. As a screenwriter, Berg uses a number of symbols (including color swatches and Arabian horses) to show us exactly what they're risking to serve their country, while also giving us a brief crash course in military protocol. All of this serves to inject a certain amount of humanity into the doomed mission, and thanks to his lead actors, Berg reveals himself to be an efficient storyteller with an eye for detail. Once the focus moves to the mountains and the soldiers come under fire, Berg makes the transition a smooth one by instantly immersing us in the action. But this is also the point when some viewers may start to take issue with Lone Survivor: Despite Berg's effective, workmanlike approach as a director in these key sequences, his instinctive drive to paint his protagonists as heroes begins to eclipse the almost unimaginably courageous efforts undertaken by a few brave Taliban resisters to risk not just their lives, but the lives of their families to abide by a local code of Pashtunwali -- which requires that they offer hospitality and protection to any "guest" they encounter, and states that such guests should not be surrendered to an enemy. Given the gruesome atrocities we see the Taliban inflict on the villagers early in the film, we know without question that the threat to them is very real. Sadly, the scenes in which a benevolent father and son risk certain death (not to mention the destruction of their entire village) to prevent the Taliban from decapitating Luttrell are treated like something of an afterthought to the carnage in the mountains -- which feels like a grave disservice not only because it's the most dramatically compelling aspect of the story, but because it challenges our preconceptions about foreign cultures. Even when Luttrell takes pause to thank his protectors in perhaps the movie's most moving scene, the overwhelming presence of the U.S. military undermines the poignancy on display. Given that the moment is quickly followed by a montage of the many U.S. soldiers who lost their lives during the mission in a rescue attempt gone horribly awry (and make no mistake, these soldiers do indeed deserve our respect and recognition, perhaps just not at this particular point in the film), it feels as if Berg favors flag-waving action over the genuinely compelling notion that real heroes sometimes sport turbans instead of tactical gear.