The bar was raised on combat films decades ago. Corny, tactically sloppy flag-wavers no longer cut the mustard.
And thanks to the most documentary filmed in history — Iraq and Afghanistan — it’s not just the feature films that made viewers more sophisticated, tactically savvy and jargon-friendly.
So even viewers who’ve never darkened a recruiting office’s door know when a picture’s not exactly regulation. In the case of “Valiant One,” a glib, cliched, behind Korean lines thriller plainly shot in Vancouver, our commitment goes a lot further than the simple act of “embrace the suck.”
This may be the least “GI” combat film since Spike Lee’s “The Miracle of St. Anna,” hurling a collection of “types” into a dawdling tale that wanders from “This has possibilities” to “This is ludicrous” over 87 never-that-serious-or-suspenseful minutes.
Chase Stokes plays Sgt. Brockman, a uniformed tech and analyst with Silicon Valley dreams after his hitch. But he’s been enlisted as a babysitter/helper for a non-military technician (Desmin Borges) who’s needed to check and repair a non-functional ground radar gadget in the Korean demilitarized zone.
They’re attached to a small squad helicoptered-in to do the quick in-and-out. The weather closes in, they crash and their Master Sgt. (Callen Mulvey) is among the mortally wounded. With no communications and no navigation other than a map and compass, Gen Z has to get out of danger — behind North Korean lines — led by a guy who lacks confidence, and fails to inspire it.
Selby (Lana Condor), the most GI grunt among the survivors, quotes Tupac to buck our unqualified team leader up.
“No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep ya head up… and handle it.”
They must dodge patrols, negotiate with traumatized, disadvantaged
North Koreans and try not to cause an international incident as they do.
The trigger happy Ross (Jonathan Whitesell) might be spoiling for a firefight, but that’s why he’s not in charge.
Amusingly enough, the movie storms across that “incident” line in a hail of bullets by the middle acts as we figure out who’s competent, who’s cowardly and marvel over the American semi-automatic weapons that take forever to run out of rounds and the odd telling detail. Yes, poor North Korean farmers still drive wood burning trucks and lack electricity, if not a daughter who needs rescuing from the People’s Republicans who enslave them.
That “rescue,” the “I’ll buy you some time” self-sacrifices, the Korean American who speaks “almost” no Korean, “Valiant One” never ran across a combat cliche it doesn’t like.
The performances are semi-serious, at best, and longtime producer turned director/co-writer Steve Barnett’s first feature directing job staggers right up to the DMZ between awful and “OK, at least that’s over with.”
Rating: R, violence, profanity
Cast: Chase Stokes, Lana Condor, Jonathan Whitesell, Desmin Borges, Daniel Jun and Callen Mulvey.
Credits: Directed by Steve Barnett, scripted by Steve Barnett and Eric Tipton. A Briarcliff release.
Running time: 1:27
