Awesome / Act of Valor

• The rescue of Lisa Morales is pretty awesome, from the way the SEALs sneak into the compound and their sniper silently eliminates guards, but the cake has to go to the SWCC boats, who arrive in the nick of time to completely fuck up the terrorist reinforcements, doing their best to achieve enough dakka in two minutes of sustained fire.
  • Maybe the most amazing tactic in the film comes from a sniper who takes out an enemy on a small dock, who falls into the hands of a submerged SEAL to pull the carcass underwater without making a sound. As a measure of how awesome that scene was, not only is it the point the trailer kicks into high gear, it's on the first page of the book.
  • When they have to evacuate, the assault team pile into a pick-up truck while the sniper team intercepts them on foot, popping out at the right place and the right time to blast their pursuers with a rocket. That, my friends, is how you run and fight at the same time.
  • As they're evacuating, Mikey catapults up from being shot in the face - after another SEAL said he wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse - and his first questions (after "WHAT THE FUCK?") are where they are and whether they successfully rescued Morales.
• Even though the mission at Baja California goes south real quick, the SEALs quickly demonstrate why a messed-up plan does nothing to even slow them down.
  • A bunch of terrorists circling around and trying to flank the assaulting marines are quickly cut down by the overwatch and their accoutrement of BFGs
  • Another bunch trying to flee on a jeep are intercepted and annihilated by helicopters.
  • The LT catches a (dud) RPG to the chest and walks it off.
• Chief Dave's solo assault on the jihadists & their cartel allies into the cartel tunnels, fueled by Tranquil Fury. He attacks until his rifle is shot out of his hands; he pulls his pistol and returns fire with a shot-up hand. Even after taking a full burst of fire to the chest, he doesn't stop fighting, even as he is bleeding to death.
  • What makes it even more awesome is that it was based on a real-life account.
• Senior Chief's interrogation of Christo. For a genre rife with the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique, its refreshing to see the real world interrogation techniques, the ones that actually work. It also establishes Senior Chief as the kind of guy who does not need to be holding a gun to be a badass.
  • Even better, that scene was largely unscripted.
  • The best moment is when Miller shows Christo his family. He doesn't threaten Christo's family; he just makes the consequences of being uncooperative clear: Christo will go to prison for the rest of his life, and his family will move on. And Christo breaks immediately, with his only response being a quietly desperate plea not to harm his family, at which point Miller emphatically states that he would never harm Christo's family. The gulf between the good guys and the bad guys is firmly established right there. That said, the mere fact that Miller has a recent video of Christo's family on his cell phone clearly scares the bejesus out of Christo.
• Critics gave the film negative reviews, primarily because of the acting. The awesome part is the response of the fans who responded "Of course their acting sucks! But who cares!? They're active duty Navy SEALs!"
• After all the crap he pulls, watching Abu Shabal get gunned down can be this with a side of Catharsis Factor.