Act of Valor

I had been wanting to see this movie for a long time.  I was pumped about the trailer and knew this was exactly my kind of flick.  In case you haven't seen the trailer, it's one of the best I've ever seen.  Act of Valor stars active duty Navy SEALS.  This means they are not in the credits but they do all their own action sequences.  This makes the action scenes very authentic and about as close as most of us are going to get to military action.

Act of Valor is a film that follows Navy SEALS through a fictional mission after a CIA agent is kidnapped.  The attempt to rescue her leads to further plot points that expose a larger terrorist agenda.  The plot is very straight forward.  It does get confusing at points but the overall mission is clear.  The story is fun but a little too straightforward until the very end.

I'm not going to talk much about the acting in this movie because it's horrible.  I didn't expect anything different though because professional Navy SEALS are not actors.  I will say though even the professional actors were pretty terrible in this one.

If you want to see great military action and that's your thing, you'll love Act of Valor. If you expect great acting and drama then forget it.  This is a case of "it is what it is" don't expect it to be anything more.  I loved this one, but it also helped to read the book prior to seeing the movie.

Drive

I knew this movie was about a professional stunt man who did some work on the side for some extra cash as a "driver" for criminals.  I hadn't seen any trailers of it and was pretty unsure of what to expect thematically.  I was hoping for movie filled with cool car chases.  I should have done my homework.

Drive is basically a combination of Casino and The Transporter.  The story takes you through the life of "Driver", (he doesn't have a name) played by Ryan Gosling, as he becomes more and more connected with the criminal underworld.  The character doesn't say much at all and is almost emotionless except some of the action scenes.  This is one of the huge downfalls of the movie.  It feels almost robotic going through the story because they don't make you care about "Driver."

The star is Gosling but other significant roles are played by Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, and Ron Pearlman.  All are good actors but Gosling is ridiculous.  I don't think it's his fault (more likely the writers) but with nothing to say I don't really know how to judge his acting skills in this movie.  I think Pearlman and Cranston did a nice job in this one.

I would highly recommend you skip this one.  As much as I thought this might be a cool car chase movie, it isn't that.  Tons of violence, gore, and unnecessary brutality to this film.  I didn't enjoy it at all and don't think you will either.

Real Steel

I know, I was surprised I saw this movie too.  Real Steel is a movie about boxing robots.  Does that really sound interesting?  No.  But when you look a little bit deeper it's really more about the personal relationships of the people and then some cool boxing action with the robots.  I was quite surprised.

Real Steel is about a former boxer who is going around the country, sometime in the future, trying to win bets on whether his boxing robot will win fights.  He's deep in debt with no where to go when his ex-girlfriend dies and leaves their son to him.  The relationship between him and his son is really what this movie is about.  It's a good storyline and honestly it's pretty intense at points of the movie.  While the storyline is predictable, that's not always a bad thing.

The one major problem with this movie was the acting.  Hugh Jackman plays the star of the movie and he is very good, no problem there.  The issue lies in the supporting cast.  The son is played by Dakota Goyo and while yes, he's a kid, he's not very good.  Also, Jackman's girlfriend is played by Evangeline Lilly and she is terrible.  I wasn't impressed by Lilly in Lost and I most certainly am not in this movie.  Fortunately the real stars are Jackman and his robot.

Real Steel is a fun and dramatic movie that you will just enjoy.  It won't win any awards but you will enjoy checking it out.  I would particularly recommend this one if you enjoy boxing.  They use real boxing strategies in the film and it's quite fun to see that.