OT: "Act of Valor" worth seeing

Yes, just an incredible book. One of the few to bring tears to my eyes.

One of the best books I have ever read and an incredible story. I can't believe that some kids killed the dog that was given to him as a therapeutic tool, very sad. Anyway, I am excited for this movie and safe house.

I had kind of wondered about some of the questions answered by your link. As I said, I really enjoyed this, and the fact that NSW initiated the project and helped from the get go made it truly unique.

While neither the personnel cast in the movie nor the Navy itself are going to profit financially, I'm kind of surprised that there wasn't some arrangement of a "donation," say to survivors of Seals who were killed in the line of duty, or a college fund for children of Seals. I'm sure there are needs out there not covered by the government directly.

The point about identifying the SEALs in the movie and it effecting their cover in future missions was my first thought.

If they want to improve recruiting - they need Call of Duty, Act of Valor edition, with underwater assault and the boats, etc.

They tried shooting the film with seals, not SEALs, at first, but they just ended up begging for fish and crapping all over the place. 

Thanks for correction. Henceforth, they are Navy SEALs, not Seals.

I'm curious:  when do acronyms (i.e., SEALs) change to words, and words no longer requiring capitalization? For instance

• radar and sonar are acronyms, but they have entered into the regular lexicon, and are no longer capitalized.
• Also, most internet slang/text acronyms aren't capitalized (i.e., lmgtfy, or tl;dr or rofl, etc., etc.)
• When the letters stand for an organization or company, they seem to always be capitalized (i.e., UM for our beloved school, or IBM, or NCAA, or NATO, or NASA)
• Likewise, medical terminology:  (AIDS, HIV.)
• Some "words" had acronym origins, i.e., "Snafu." 
• And some have double meanings, depending on context (DNR.)

I'll be looking now to see whether or not "SEALs" is capitalized in the press (or not.) Regardless, no one would confuse Navy SEALs with cute sea mammals.

That and the fact that maybe 10 out of several thousand guys are chosen to actually be a SEAL or Ranger...

Also they literally drown you and revive you going through SEAL training to see if you can withstand torture.

Ive been waiting for this movie and can't wait to see it

No. Just no. There should be a law against such things. Not to be rudely inquisitive, but for the love of all good things, what could motivate you to go to "The Vow?" I mean, I went to ballet recitals when my daughter was 5, but there's a good reason. Well, to each his own. I'm glad to have seen Act of Valor, and perhaps even more glad NOT to have to go to "The Vow."

Since you say that you "have to go", I'm assuming you're a man.  (sue me)  

With that assumption, your wife/girlfriend/significant other needs to find a friend to go along with her to these types of movies.  

The Navy will not financially profit from AOV

This was supposed to be in response to, and agreement with, the above Stephen R Kass post suggesting the same thing. My apologies.

I purposely didn't go into this (didn't want OP to be in the tl;dr category) and didn't want to spoil the movie. However, I can tell any who want to read about the plot a bit, without spoiling the movie.

There is a very believable story, It involves a bombing of an expat school in Asia, masterminded by an old school jihadist who is truly motivated by hurting the USA, regardless of anything else. A true believer. There is drug smuggling, CIA agents taken into captivity and extracted, and a plot to infiltrate the US with highly explosive vests that are non-metallic and would thus avoid detection, to come in via suicide bombers.

For me, the plot line actually is what makes the movie particularly good. It makes sense, and connects around the globe, from the USA, to Asia, to Central America, to Africa, to Eastern Europe, to Mexico. Without giving away the plot, something that seemed fuzzy and nebulous in a basic extraction mission turns out to be connected to a much, much larger and nefarious plot to hurt the US.

The plot line was partially devised by Naval Special Warfare (see link from Mgoshoe above.) It had to be believable, and based on things that actually happened (or could happen.) If you happen to dislike the US military, and special ops, and violence, well, this movie isn't for you.

Very particularly, the movie is not unbelievable (think some of the stunts in the Bond movies, or Bourne movies, or Cruise Mission Impossible movies.) It also is not mindless and unconnected action and crash sequences (think parts of the transformer movies, or Fast & Furious.) It is not science fiction (not Star Wars, or Star Trek, or War of the Worlds, or Minority Report or Avatar.)

It is unabashedly a recruiting tool for special forces, especially for SEALs. It doesn't glorify war, nor is it politicized. It isn't like Apocolypse Now, or Platoon, or Hamburger Hill.

The closest movies (and they're not really close, but they're the best I can link to) would be  Black Hawk Down or Hurt Locker. Black Hawk Down was very intense. This is similar, but the good guys win, albeit, with losing some of their own to either injury or death.

The movie closes with a dedication to all special ops forces who have lost their lives in the line of duty since 9/11, a chilling and inspiring long list of all their names. It reminded me slightly of all the vets who came to the stage at Mount Rushmore when I was there during Sturgis a couple summers ago. Seeing all the Vets gave a tangible sense of all who sacrificed to serve their country. Special Ops, even more so.

In fact, according to the link from mgoshoe, the Navy was involved in getting the movie done. You could say it is propaganda. However, I think it is very different from, say, Green Berets. And it doesn't try to gloss over the reality that good guys get hurt too.

Everyone has different tastes in movies. There's more than enough out there to find something that suits you. (Just don't tell me that you're going to see "The Vow.")

Also, I'm sure you are right that Hollywood wants to make money. Not sure they're taking advantage, though, because it seems from mgoshoe's link that the Navy was part of initiating the whole project, and the active duty SEALs who signed up were more than willing to do so.