“Act of Valor,” starring real-life Navy SEALs, is said to be a movie that will have the grit and realism of real military mission. For the critics, the grit wasn’t there.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the critics gave the film a 30% rating, while audiences lauded it, giving it an 85%.

The critical overview of the movie, according to Rotten Tomatoes, is that the film is “…undeniably reverent of the real-life heroes in its cast, but Act of Valor lets them down with a clichéd script, stilted acting, and a jingoistic attitude that ignores the complexities of war.”

Here’s what the critics said individually:

“Fighting is a learned skill; so is acting. And the SEAL stars are plausible only when on maneuvers–performing as their own stunt doubles.”–Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

“Whenever a movie cooperates closely with the military, someone is bound to attack it as a covert recruitment video. That was a valid criticism of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Red Dawn,’ but it won’t work against ‘Act of Valor,’ a project initiated by the Navy and filmed during training exercises with active-duty SEALs playing themselves.”–Rafer Guzman, Newsday

“A documentary OR an action/drama honoring the missions of our Navy SEALs could have been good. But instead of OR, they tried AND. It fails.–Jeff Bayer, The Scorecard Review

Write what you thought about the film below the post.

Written by: Monique Jones