“Lone Survivor” is an intense war picture; it’s shockingly violent, incredibly brutal yet amazingly triumphant. It’s one of those movies where once the action starts, your interest never diminishes. Now do I think it is as good as something such as “Black Hawk Down”? No… it isn’t too far off though.

Based on a true story, “Lone Survivor” shows American soldiers in Afghanistan going a recon mission to locate a Taliban commander. They’re found by a couple of goat herders but are they Taliban? A possibly wrong decision leaves four men fighting for their lives across the mountainy terrain of Afghanistan.

Mark Wahlberg (“Ted”, “The Other Guys”) plays the main soldier named Marcus Luttrell and he gives a very competent performance to say the least. I think he gets it just right in terms of making sure the emotions and intensity are conveyed without making the character seeming over the top. The others get less screen-time such as Taylor Kitsch (“John Carter”). Together you really get a sense of their brotherhood as soldiers. The various Taliban members get very little screen-time and most are just in the distance firing at the American troops. Some significant moments are given to civilian Afghans.

“Lone Survivor” is pretty disturbing at times; the disorientating make the violence even more intense than it already is. As with any movie based on a true story, people like to nit-pick about the little things but even if it isn’t 100% accurate, it’s a very good movie. There’s great precision in terms of the camera-angles to the sound when explosions have gone off that really make you feel as involved with these guys fighting the Taliban as you’re going to get. It’s also surprising how few set pieces there are as most of the movie takes place on the mountainy terrain, it just seems to amplify the exhilarating nature of the film’s events.