Movie review by Russell Pinkston

A CIA agent (Roselyn Sánchez) is taken hostage, tortured and held captive.   The United States sends in an elite group of men, Navy SEALs ) to rescue her.   Alot of terrorists are shot in the head.

This movie stars actual active duty Navy SEALs (their names are being withheld for their safety), it was after all Navy SEALs that kill Osama Bin Laden.   Real actors Roselyn Sánchez (Rush Hour 2, Underclassmen) and Nestor Serrano (Hangin’ with the Homeboys, Bad Boys) costar.

I like the idea in principle but I think where it fails is in the writing.   The action with the SEALs is authenic looking as well as the dialog and the procedures.   The action is good but the dialog and the set up to the action are not the most exciting.   They needed to “Hollywood up”  the dialog.  They also fall to give debt to the characters…which is probably due to them not wanting to give too much information about the soldiers.

The trailer shows most of the story and there are long periods of uninteresting talking and stuff in between the beginning and ending action sequences.   It also seems more like propaganda for the military (who oviously gave the movie makers access to their personel and equipment).   Having actual active Navy SEALs was a nice gimic if it would of been put together better.  I wanted to like this movie because of the soldiers (I have a friend, Mike, who has served in the Army since his graduation in 1990) and because I too am a American.    But in the end Act of Valor seems more preachy than patriotic.    I say WAIT FOR DVD.