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Act of Valor

6/10

Stars: Chief Dave, Lt Rorke, Sonny, Ray, Ajay, Mikey, Van O, Weimy, Rosalyn Sanchez, Ailsa Marshall, Alex Veadov, Jason Cottle

Director: Scott Waugh, Mouse McCoy

Virtually split into two halves, this truth-based, documentary-style, but soulless account of the danger-fraught activities of America's Navy SEALs stars real-life military men in the leading roles. The SEALs are no actors but, since the film is practically all action, this may matter little to fans of this kind of movie.

The rescue of a CIA agent (Sanchez, from TV's Without a Trace) and the storming of Jihadists plotting to invade the US with suicide bombers are re-reacted in graphically explosive detail, two events that are connected in a worldwide story that takes in such diverse locations as the Philippines, Somalia and Costa Rica.

If it's fast-moving action you require, just sit back and enjoy the slickly-edited firefights - although an act of sacrifice at the end seems, to say the least, a bit hasty - while movie buffs staying for the end credits will spot that the marine co-ordinator is Ricou Browning Jr, son of the underwater legend who played the original Creature from the Black Lagoon and is himself still going strong at 81.

David Quinlan

USA 2012. UK Distributor: Momentum. Technicolor.
108 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 16 Mar 2012