Lone Survivor (R)

The outcome of “Lone Survivor” is never in doubt. Four U.S. Navy Seals drop into a Taliban stronghold targeting a particular leader. They find themselves surrounded by hundreds of well-armed fighters and, as the title suggests, only one man lives to tell the tale.

The film is based on a first-hand account by Marcus Luttrell of a failed mission in Afghanistan, played by a captivating Mark Wahlberg. Director Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”) reportedly kept the author and veteran handy during production.

Too often, expert advice will bog a script down as the person with real life insight begins to nitpick at the story’s details. In this case, however, the collaboration appears to have paid off, yielding a piece where combat violence is both intimate and exquisite, the sound and fury blending until the audience almost shudders from the physical force as bullets or shrapnel tear into battered flesh. On top of this, the stunt work is flawless.

It’s no wonder “Lone Survivor” has already caused a sensation. Oh, there are moments when the pace drags—particularly early on in the film, as the director and scriptwriter must establish the characters soon to find themselves in a near hopeless situation. Even in these moments, however, the film conveys something human. These four are well trained and fully capable of assassinating a Taliban leader without second thought. But they are also young men from different backgrounds imbued with the divergent values that define America.

When shepherds accidentally compromise their mission, the four argue over the rights and wrongs of killing innocents.

It’s a debate likely as old as war itself. Even during World War Two, some American church leaders questioned the morality of bombing raids over Germany that obliterated or maimed thousands of civilians each go—though there was little compassion for Japanese noncombatants. In the end, the survivor lives with the help of an Afghan, who is merely following age-old cultural tradition.

“Lone Survivor,” therefore, brings together all the elements we’ve come to expect of a modern war movie. There is the memorable rendering of violence, the attention to plausible storytelling, the overwhelming cinematography—even the occasional bouts of trite dialogue. More importantly, “Lone Survivor” pulls ethical thought and human emotion to a very taught line.

No, the film does not delve into the morass of the war’s political right and wrong. Granted, the story is told as seen through the eyes of an American special forces soldier in trying circumstances. Yet this is not a few hours in favor of those who flagrantly wear American flag pins in their lapels. Nor does it comment on the side of those tired of the long combat exercise. And in a large sense, “Lone Survivor refuses to stress over that ambiguous realm where the deliberate ending of another’s life transforms from a reprehensible act to a duty worthy of honor. It just hones in on a gritty, ugly, desperate portion of war, and the spirit wedged deep within some humans that allows them to keep going.

This is a film that slams you around and leaves you breathless—exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. From old Hollywood, perhaps only “Northwest Passage” conjures the duress of a combat mission and the will to continue that is part of human nature. It is in the vein of “When Trumpets Fade,” “Blackhawk Down,” “Hamburger Hill,” moments of the series “The Pacific” and the other standout war films of an age that rejuvenated the genre.

“Lone Survivor” is worth the beautiful agony.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana, Taylor Kelsch, Alexander Ludwig