What makes it different from others?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'm not military or have been but reviewers who have served agree this is technically right on. Excellent and interesting strategic action scenes show the great skill and timing and risk involved What i probably most liked was .that I was touched by the amazing courage that some guys are capable of...that there does exist a sense of duty and commitment and sacrifice....These days Patriotism has been damaged by politics and corporate policies....and while loyalty to USA protocols is certainly a theme here I reacted to it less then just the sense that 'being the best you can be' is a personal CHOICE...that heroism is a real state of spirit...and a most wonderful thing that can take the ultimate price....Made me feel a sense of gratitude to the peoplewho have made this amazing DECISION and the back it up.About an excellence that really e3sists...amazing.

I guess for people who like that kind of movies Act Of Valor is a good one. At least for the action scenes. Those were good but the acting wasn't great at all. About the story it's a typical American propaganda movie. "We're Navy Seals and we're going to clear this mess up". I can see republican patriotic rednecks loving this movie. But for an outsider like me, that is already not very fond on wars and propaganda it's a bit dull for a movie. You perfectly know what will happen in this movie from the second it started. It's not even a spoiler if I tell you America will win. I don't think I ever saw a movie in this genre where America didn't win. But okay the action scenes were good, I'll give you that. Except from a navy seal hit at close range by a rocket that has no injuries at all, the rest was okay. A movie to watch once and then forget about it. But only if you like this kind of movies otherwise just pass on it.

While this movie struggles with acting and script that's not primarily what we are here to experience. It excels in the action sequences in which real life Special Warfare operatives display the skills they've acquired during a career of combat. Even when the action heats up the stilted acting jobs flow much easier and become extremely believable. Despite the simple plot and the sacrifice you see coming from scene one it's hard not to just sit back and appreciate, as you watch this, that real men are out there attempting similar missions this very day to keep us all safe. It's impossible not to feel the emotion in the funeral scene at the end when the living take a moment to honor the brothers that did not survive. Even if this happens to be staged for the screen you can just feel that these men have had to perform this ritual before. So overall not a great movie but for what it encompasses in the grand scheme and due to some highly engaging tactical scenes this film gets good marks

If your like action and are patriotic, you'll love this movie. Supposedly staring real, honest to goodness navy seals, who haven't taken any acting lessons, so don't expect any great acting, it's supposed to be 'real' (in so far as it's still just a movie). The Story line is very simple and straightforward, no surprising twists or turns, only real events that prolong the action, and results in one mission after another. The movie shows that some men, place country and duty above everything else: this is what makes for a real soldier, someone who is prepared to die fighting for a cause, and like any other typical military propaganda movie, it casts the American soldier as the ''Good Guys" (it is an American movie after all) who really "kick ass", kill all the bad guys, who deserve to die, because they are a threat to the American way. The movie succeeds in emphasizing the point that only the American live's and the American patriotism and the American way are sacred and justified, and anything/anyone else that is different or holds different views is a terrorist and threat that deserves to die. So there is no compassion, Christian or humane, when we see one of the 'bad' guys killed by the patriotic American Seals, the flow of the movie is such that we are quick to dismiss them as evil, irrelevant people who deserve to die and who don't have family or friends who value their existence or would miss them and mourn their premature death. The viewer is prevented from even remotely considering that the 'enemy soldiers' might also be fighting to support and defend what they believe in (their patriotism and honor). Let's not forget that this battle/conflict is taking place in their backyard/country and not on American soil, so it might just be a case of justified self defense or an 'eye for an eye' by the enemy.