'Act of Valor' glorifies Navy SEALs. But can they act? (+trailer)

War movies in wartime – certainly since Vietnam – inevitably are controversial. John Wayne in “The Green Berets” and (ten years later) “Coming Home” with Jane Fonda come to mind. Pentagon propaganda or peacenik polemic, they are bound to generate dispute.

Then there’s the question about such films’ artistic merit as entertainment, which is what Hollywood is all about.

That question for “Act of Valor” – the war movie about US Navy SEALs, which opened this weekend – is bringing decidedly mixed reviews from professional film critics and moviegoers.

On film review aggregator “Rotten Tomatoes,” 84 percent of some 9,500 audience reviewers give "Act of Valor" at least 3.5 stars (out of 5) – basically a thumbs-up. But only 26 percent of 76 “Approved Tomatometer Critics” – those who write for newspapers, magazines, and broadcast outlets – give “Act of Valor” a positive review. The figure is even lower for those 27 reviewers the website designates “Top Critics” – just 19 percent.

The problem for many reviewers is the casting – actual Navy SEALs playing themselves. They may be highly-focused and genuinely heroic – nailing Osama bin Laden and rescuing people captured by pirates – but these are not drama school grads, and apparently it shows.

“Employing Navy troops as stars is a clever idea for an action thriller,” writes Claudia Puig of USA Today. “But the soldiers' awkward line readings are glaring enough to distract from the potency of the story.” (As a former naval officer, I must note that referring to Navy sailors as “soldiers” may be a keel-hauling offense.)

Robert Koehler at Variety calls it “a mechanically efficient yet soulless dramatization of the US Navy SEALs in action.”

The Monitor’s Peter Rainer gives “Act of Valor” a so-so C+.

“The movie is essentially a series of reasonably good action sequences,” Rainer writes. “The bad guys, who specialize in funny beards, funny accents, and shaved heads, would feel right at home in an ‘Austin Powers’ movie.”

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