Act of Valor 2012

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Fighting is a learned skill; so is acting. And the SEAL stars are plausible only when on maneuvers - performing as their own stunt doubles. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Just barely a movie, "Act of Valor" is more like a high-quality recruitment video with interstitial acting. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Battle scenes are very well-staged, with things blowing up really, really good a lot of the time. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Act of Valor is designed to... fill your heart with patriotic respect ... and completely shut off any part of your brain that may dare to ask bigger questions about what you're watching and why. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Like all advertisements, this scripted movie is a perfect fantasy: expertly coordinated, simplistic (the bad guys like yachts and bikini girls while our heroes have loving families) and more than a little scary. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It's thin material, to say the least, and manipulative to boot, putting women, children, and a SEAL father-to-be in jeopardy in ways more about servicing cheap thrills than any larger point about the perilous state of the world in 2012. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: While the intentions behind "Act of Valor" are sterling, the story could have been told better. One wishes the filmmakers had trusted it to professional actors, who might have more fully realized the material. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: "Act of Valor'' is a roller-coaster ride. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Act of Valor" plays like a highly favorable SEALs tribute placed atop a vaguely bogus storyline. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The bad guys, who specialize in funny beards, funny accents, and shaved heads, would feel right at home in an Austin Powers movie. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The movie doesn't pretend to be anything but propaganda, a modern-day cousin to the morale-boosting documentaries made by John Huston and Frank Capra during World War II. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: When the bullets are flying, Act of Valor is undeniably tense and thrilling. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: The merging of dramatic re-creations and on-camera "performances" proves less seamlessly executed than those masterfully coordinated land, sea and air missions. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: While the action is always crisp and to the point, the rest of the storytelling and the acting that goes along with it are pro forma at best. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: As a piece of filmed entertainment, "Act of Valor" will never be mistaken for "Top Gun," but it's a heck of a recruitment video. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: These guys ... are the real deal. And any hero worship given them - badly done or not - is still deserved. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A big-screen recruitment film infused with a hero worship SEALs typically shun. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Refreshing as it is to see the military portrayed as something other than a band of neurotics and creeps, there's a reason this brand of rah-rah and bang-bang didn't outlast the age of Whitesnake and Marty McFly. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Unsurprisingly, the finished product plays like a pumped-up recruitment commercial deemed fit for feature length and multiplex viewing. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: You know who you're supposed to be rooting for because they're the ones wearing uniforms, but it's easy to lose touch with why. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: There's something old-fashioned and a little refreshing about a movie that unabashedly represents its protagonists as heroes, but it gets in the way of seeing the SEALs in Act of Valor as real people. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: The special ops missions are pretty amazing, but the SEALS as dramatic characters are under-developed. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: We don't get to know the characters as individuals, they don't have personality traits, they have no back stories, they don't speak in colorful dialogue, and after the movie you'd find yourself describing events but not people. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: I don't know what to make of Act of Valor. It's like reviewing a recruiting poster. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: The filmmakers are so intent on shooting the real SEAL deal that they forget this is supposed to be a movie: We need a story. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: I think these real-life action heroes deserve a better movie. So does the audience. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Act of Valor" is a competently directed action movie, but forcing the audience to wear such narrow goggles is a dereliction of duty. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Although the Seals continue in fine form, the co-directors seem fatigued from the journey, allowing their once-clean style to degenerate into a typical mishmash of clutter and bombast. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: For action fans, the film delivers action. Beyond that, not so much. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: 'Act of Valor' reeks of military-sanctioned exploitation drama aimed solely at the 'Call of Duty' set. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: While subtleties and pacing are MIA, the filmmakers know how to shoot action and they make the most of it in Act of Valor. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Employing Navy troops as stars is a clever idea for an action thriller. But the soldiers' awkward line readings are glaring enough to distract from the potency of the story. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: A mechanically efficient yet soulless dramatization of the U.S. Navy SEALs in action. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The villains come across as individuals rather more compellingly than do the film's ostensible heroes, mostly mouthpieces for warrior credo recited in voiceover. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: One wonders how the movie might have played as pure, unceasing battle scenes, allowing the combat to define the characters; with real soldiers doing the onscreen fighting, something special may well have emerged. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: The exercises are genuine, and so is the hardware. But the script undermines the sense of authenticity at every turn. Read more