‘Valiant One’ Review – A Valiant Yet Unfulfilling Effort With Action And Valor

Honor and valor fuel a displaced army team inside hostile territory. The stakes could not be higher, with communication equipment destroyed and the team cut off from any support system. The mission is a race against the clock to make it home safely. Valiant One is an adrenaline thriller with surprisingly captivating performances. However, the story is thin and never given enough time to expand, denying a full-fledged survival tale.

We meet Captain Edward Brockman (Chase Stokes), who seems to be on autopilot despite his prestigious military rank. While conducting a training exercise with Specialist Selby (Lana Condor), the mission goes awry. A helicopter crash leaves this team of mismatched personalities stranded in North Korean territory. Facing certain capture and possibly death, they embark on a daring escape across the DMZ.

Sadly, the movie’s story is nothing more than a simple premise. There is adrenaline and palpable tension, but the problem for the film is the lack of characterization. As an audience, we cannot invest in the characters, mainly because they are mere archetypes furthering plot and action. On the plus side, despite the thin premise, the performances, particularly one, are still memorable.

Lana Condor, who achieved notoriety for the To All the Boys series, brings a strong conscience to her role of Selby. She, by far, outshines the ensemble. She is given a few moments to demonstrate her acting chops in a story lacking many twists or plot deviations outside the premise. By far, the most compelling and emotionally gripping moments are when the team takes refuge in the house of a North Korean family.

Here, Condor imbues Selby with pathos, giving us a brief glimpse into her character’s background. Her story is by far the one that avoids more of the archetypes and provides the film with some needed exposition and tension.

Chase Stokes is serviceable in the lead. His character is put in over his head for a career-defining mission. We never learn too much of his backstory, not that it is essential to the story. His task is to lead this band of survivors out to safety. Stokes, most noted for his role of John B on Outer Banks, is given more to work with outside of teen melodrama, proving that even with a thin script, he shows he has the chops.  

There is a surprising amount of tension in a film that otherwise lacks those essential elements. However, these moments are never given enough time to expand fully, denying us character and situations that might otherwise elevate the stakes. Here is the crux of the movie’s frustration, and it is a surprising knock because, generally, runtimes are the source of the audience’s frustration, if not exasperation.

Valiant One has a runtime of one hour and twenty-one minutes, including credits. It is tight, and the pacing is never a problem. The issue is that clocking in under ninety minutes denies the movie time to allow the emotional moments to breathe. At points, characters feel they are simply moving the plot forward. Any chance to expand the narrative is nixed to turbo-speed the plot forward.

I think of the late great Rober Ebert, who said, “No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough.” In the case of Valiant One, this is not a bad movie. The action is pulsating, the cinematography is boldly in your face, and the heroics are fist-pumping. The problem here is that this movie is missing what feels like a third act. It is enjoyable to watch but not long enough for us to make an entire investment.

These factors make it difficult to thoroughly recommend this film, though it is by no means a movie worthy of entry into a five-dollar DVD bin. It is a simple story about heroism and survival. While it would have benefited from a more expansive story, it is hard to critique a movie thoroughly entwined with the tenets of strength and courage.  

Valiant One is currently playing in theaters courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment.