Navy SEALs: The Battle for New Orleans (2015) Through the Eyes of Cat

By Cat

Number Rolled: N/A

Movie Name/Year: Navy SEALs: The Battle for New Orleans (2015)

Alternate Title: Navy SEALs vs. Zombies 

Tagline: America's most elite soldiers trained for every threat, except for this.

Genre: Action, Horror

Length:  97 minutes

Rating: NR

Production Companies: Hollywood Media Bridge, Media Circus, Throne Productions

Producers: Geza Decsy, Phillip B. Goldfine, Jason Hewitt, Robert Markovich, Jeffrey Reyes, Benjamin Sacks, Steve Shelanski, Robert Lane Sisung, A.K. Waters, Michael Wickstrom

Director: Stanton Barrett

Writers: A.K. Waters, Matthew Carpenter

Actors:  Ed Quinn, Michael Dudikoff, Rick Fox, Chad Lail, Molly Hagan, Mikal Vega, Kevin Kent, Damon Lipari, Lolo Jones, Massimo Dobrovic, Stephanie Honoré, Geoff Reeves

Stunt Coordinators: Stanton Barrett, Matt Thompson, 

Blurb from Netflix: When zombies descend on Louisiana, a team of Navy SEALs races to the rescue, using their war-tested skills to take on the hungry undead. 

Cat's Point of View: 

My random impulse for today’s movie called for some action. When I saw the title of Navy SEALs: The Battle for New Orleans, my curiosity demanded me to watch the film before I even read the blurb of what it was about. Then, of course, I saw the mention of zombies. OK, sure!

Realistically, I was pretty sure from the outset that this was going to be a B-movie. It’s only a couple years old and I don’t remember a thing about it getting any mainstream attention. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it was the caution flag that I was really taking a gamble on this one.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite pay off.

My favorite sort of B-movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and has a bit of fun with the tropes of its genre. This film tried to be all too serious. While it followed the expected military extraction team recipe, the movie was attempting to sell authenticity way too hard and fell short.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t entirely abysmal. There were just too many inconsistencies, and moments that defied suspension of disbelief.

There was a wide range of quality in the film’s special effects. I was impressed with the shots featuring the planes and such at first blush; but as the movie progressed some moments looked like they could have been lifted from a high-end video game. This was especially so when the camera view offered what the SEALs were seeing through their rifle scopes.

I love a good zombie movie – though, this one didn’t really show consistency with its zombie behavior or even makeup effects.

I’m not quite sure why Netflix is using the title of Navy SEALs: The Battle for New Orleans, either. There isn’t a single moment of this film set in the Crescent City. It takes place entirely in the Louisiana capitol of Baton Rouge. We’re talking just shy of an hour commute from NOLA. The movie was even filmed on-location in the actual city of Baton Rouge. IMDb shows the film’s DVD release name of Navy SEALs vs. Zombies, which makes far more sense.

The stunt and vehicle work seemed pretty on-point, though. That would be expected, however, due to director Stanton Barrett’s (Bullet to the Head, Need for Speed, Logan) extensive experience both as a race car driver and working in various stunt department roles in the film industry. This was his directorial debut. I’d be interested to see what his work behind the camera looks like in the future.

If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t really recommend this one. There are far better action-zombie movies out there.

Languages:

Speech Available: English, Spanish

Subtitles Available: English [CC], Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 8%

Metascore - None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 3.3/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2/5

Trust the Dice Parental Advisory Rating: TV-MA

Movie Trailer: