A terrorist attack in Manila shakes the international community and sends a team of U.S. Navy SEALs on an operation in Central America to rescue a CIA officer held by a drug smuggler. What starts as an extraction mission grows into an investigation of a network linking narcotics and terrorism, while the members of the platoon, with their families and personal lives in the background, prepare for another deployment. The film follows these men on land, sea and air, letting the story unfold through their own combat perspective.

How it was made

The project grew out of 2007, when Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh of Bandito Brothers Production shot a promotional video for the Special Boat Teams. Their close work with the SEALs and SWCC led them to imagine a modern action film about this elite force. During development they concluded that no professional actor could credibly play the roles they had written, so active-duty service members were cast as the leads and kept anonymous in the credits. Relativity Media acquired the rights in June 2011 after a bidding contest among several companies. Filming took place in varied locations, including Cambodia, San Diego, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Ukraine and Navy training sites. Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut used Canon EOS 5D Mark II cameras and Zeiss lenses, some mounted on the servicemen's helmets to show their point of view.

Reception and legacy

Critics received it largely negatively, questioning the script and the performances of a cast without acting training. Commercially, however, it was a success, grossing over 81 million dollars worldwide against a production budget of around 12 million. It earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Its main historical interest lies in its use of real military personnel as performers, an unusual approach for mainstream action cinema, and in its role as a recruiting tool for the Navy.