SEAL Team VI (a.k.a. Navy SEAL Team) follows the titular Special Forces soldiers in the hostile environment of the Persian Gulf in 1991, as Operation Desert Shield gives way to Operation Desert Storm. Their dangerous reconnaissance mission, confirming targets for air strikes against the Iraqi troops and tanks who have overwhelmingly invaded Kuwait, comes hard on the heels of a catastrophe for the SEALS in Serbia. Whilst facing personal demons, the weight of expectation from the coalition forces to successfully begin the liberation of Kuwait bears down heavily on the team.
This is an ambitious story for an independent movie to take on, especially one that has such an insufficient budget to work with. The plot demands copious amounts of footage of bombers, aircraft carriers and jet fighters. However, the minuscule budget does not extend anywhere near to portraying all of that convincingly. Instead, we get frame after frame of stock footage being relentlessly edited into the film. This gives proceedings a jarring feel and it's especially the case when the characters are supposedly viewing scenes of devastation. Ultimately, you end up knowing full well that much of the scene has been culled from a newsreel. In fact, the stock footage appears so frequently throughout, that you sometimes wonder if you're watching a real movie or simply a clever editing job. There are also notable cutbacks in the costume department, as the Iraqi forces portrayed in the film don't appear to be wearing any kind of military uniform. They actually look more like ragtag members of the PLO, rather than Saddam's feared war machine.
This is a shame as the few scenes that don't feature any kind of stock footage are competently handled. The acting is earnest if unspectacular, the camera work is steady, the editing is sharp and the limited locations are used reasonably well. Positively, the battle scenes are decently filmed and are not without some excitement. The budget just simply can't extend to writer and director Mark C. Andrews' colossal ambition.
Some of this could have been tolerated more however, if it wasn't for a monumentally misjudged and frankly nausea inducing last ten minutes. The final act is so full of pomposity and cornball sentimentality, that it would test the patience of even the most forgiving of critics. It really drags the film down further, looking tacked on and out of place when compared with the lean, dark and unforgiving mood of the movie as a whole, stock footage and all.
SEAL Team VI has met with a hugely negative reception since it's release. The movie is actually not without a little merit and isn't nearly as bad as some reviews have made it out to be. On the whole however, it's an overly ambitious project that falls regrettably short in meeting it's objectives.
