Navy Seals - Pagati per morire

First off, I'd like to correct the poster below me who said that God "Had a sniper rifle that fired tiny grenades." God was armed with a Barrett M-82A1 .50 caliber BMG. It is a current special forces rifle and is fully capable of (and often used for) putting a bullet all the way through a truck's engine, a foot of solid metal plate, or, as often shown in the movie, wimpy little concrete or cement block walls.

Anyway...

This movie is certainly not a feast for the brain, but neither is it intellectually devoid. The issue with the journalist in the movie is startlingly relevant in today's world, for example. I doubt it was intentional; it's likely that it was put in as a weak attempt at adding conflict and depth to a flat script. But hey, take what you can get, right?

The real strong point of this movie, for me, is the set design. This was shot back in the old days, when neat backdrops couldn't just be drawn in with computers over a bluescreen. The Beirut scene at the end of "Navy SEALs" has some of the best *real* urban combat sets I've ever seen, right up there with the Hue scene at the end of "Full Metal Jacket"... though not quite as good.

I don't know if the sets alone make this movie worth watching, but they do for me. It's generally mindless action, but that doesn't mean that it's without substance; just because "Navy SEALs" doesn't meet the standards of a "great" movie, with well-developed characters and all that junk, doesn't mean it's awful. "Navy SEALs" doesn't include much script depth because it really doesn't need to. That isn't the point. Do you think that real Navy SEALs would make well-rounded characters in the Hollywood sense? These soldiers *can't* have strife within the team, *can't* have little internal conflicts that, in most movies, would be considered interesting. That just isn't realistic.

This is a rah-rah, gung-ho actioner and as long as that's what you're looking for, you'll have a good time watching this fast-paced story of the white hats versus the black hats.

Sheen, Biehn, Whalley, Kadi, and Paxton do workmanlike jobs with stereotypical roles. The plot is all formula but treated in a slightly unusual way and the action sequences are excellent. U.S. Navy SEALS (The good guys) stumble on a cache of weapons in the hands of mideastern terrorists (the bad guys.) The first attempt to get the goods fails, and in the process of tracking down the cache, everybody's best buddy dies (see if you can guess who THAT would be!) There are more tragic deaths before the finale, which, of course, includes hand-to-hand combat between boss baddie and our hero.

This is very definitely a promo for the U.S. Navy, with terrific shots of U.S. weapons, heroic depictions of our boys in action, and simple, demonized baddies. But if that kind of thing sets you off, it should be pretty obvious that this is not the film for you!

If you're interested in seeing Charlie Sheen in one of his most coked up, one-liner driven performances, I highly recommend this film (if not you have problems) Also, behold the greatest, and only action-movie/golf-course hijinks scene of all time. This of course leads directly to Sheen in hot pursuit of his towed convertible while riding a Schwinn. Pure NAVY Seal adrenaline.

'Navy SEALs' receives a fair amount of undeserved hate. It doesn't try to be anything other than a fairly mindless and entertaining action movie - surely it can't be criticized for that, can it?

Michael Biehn and Charlie Sheen play the commander and 2IC, respectively of a US Navy SEAL team. The movie starts with them having to rescue some Navy pilots who were captured by the bad guys. Correction - it starts with Charlie Sheen jumping off a bridge from a moving car. Anyway, when the SEALs go in, they discover a terrorist cache Stinger-missiles and find one of the world's most wanted men. After rescuing the pilots, our heroes spend the rest of the movie chasing these missing missiles and the terrorist leader, all while blowing stuff up and killing lots of bad guys. What more do you want?

Character development? Not likely. There is very little among the good guys, and the bad guys are barely even introduced, but thats probably because they spend so much time getting blown up and shot-up. I can live with that, even if I can't remember anything about the terrorist leader.

Check out 'Navy SEALs' if you're up for some mindless action and entertainment - 6/10.

"Navy SEALS" is a fun escapist Hollywood testosterone rush packed with action and built around a thin story about a SEALS team which goes after some Stinger missels which have fallen into the hands of mid-East terrorists. The film features some great stunts, lots of pyrotechnics, and firefights galore as it shows SEALS in a variety of combat missions including high altitude and undersea insertion platforms. A critically panned flick but a great watch for military action junkies.