Navy Seals - 4 Movies

Rating:
Summary: Hidden Gem
Review: I don't know what the previous reviewer was thinking when he criticised this set of 4 program son 2 DVD's. It has excellent production values and great, applicable information, on CQB, Sniping, Hand-to-Hand Combat, and Knife Techiniques.

The last two were the most relevant to me (a civilian) but all of the programs were of value. If you have basic understanding of weapons and combat, this DVD will be very useful. The next best thing would be to actually join the military or police and learn from them. Otherwise, this works very well.

Rating:
Summary: Fortunately, it was cheap...
Review: This is a package of two double-sided DVD's that contain four films: Hand to hand combat, Close quarters battle, knife fighting and sniper shooting techniques. The film features a bunch of people dressed in green jumpsuits, claiming to be ex-SEALs, teaching you some of their "fighting secrets". At the beginning of each film, there is a disclaimer that states that these techniques or training methods do not represent the policies, procedures or training methods and philosophies of U.S. Navy of navy SEALs. So there you go, this is not a training film of navy SEAL techniques.

The H2H -film introduces some unarmed combat techniques and principles. There are some good principles taught, although they are not very advanced in nature. There is not anything wrong with the techniques, but they don't make up any self defence system, rather they are individual techniques. And they are not taught properly, only demonstrated. As these techniques are very basics, if you have some backround in martial arts, there shouldn't be anything new to you. And if you don't have any previous experience, it's very hard to grasp the techniques based on the teaching in this film. And to top it off, some of the techniques are not very realistic for a normal citizen, like prisoner handling techniques. Run time for H2H film: 0:46

In the close quarter battle -film they show how they train people in Combative Concepts, Inc. They do not teach how to do these things, rather they just tell how they train. So, there is not very much useful information in the film. And this information is not of any use for a SEAL enthusiast, either, as these training concepts do not represents those used by real SEAL units. There are some mildly interesting film clips from force on force training scenarios, but they do not show a complete training scenario. There is also a chapter where a highway patrol officer tells about his recent gunfight, which is the most interesting part in the film. Run time for CQB film: 1:03.

The knife fighting film is the best of the lot, but still that does not tell you very much. There is some interesting, and even useful information presented, but as with other subjects, they are really not instructed at all. There is discussion about defending against knife attack with using a knife, stick, improvised weapons or bare hands, but all are handled really superficially. Some of the defences were somewhat flashy, but not "Murphy-proof", meaning that if you miss your block, you are totally vulnerable to the attacker. There is also instruction on how to attack with a knife. Although brief, this was the most interesting part of the film. For some reason, there was some commentary by Ken Good and Dave Maynard (the directors of Combative Concepts), although they were not instructors in this film. Run time for the knife film: 0:58.

The sniper film opens with a long dramatized scene from a rescue mission. This dramatization continues throughout the film, with short scenes between chapters. These scenes total about 15-20 minutes. The instructional film gives very basic and/or superficial information from several aspects of long range sniping, starting from the basics of establishing a shooting platform, to estimating the effects of temperature on accuracy. Some of the information is misleading or flawed in addition of being severely lacking in detail. For example, information on making range estimations is based to the fact that an average man is 2 meters (6 feet 6 ½ inches) tall! That makes an error of over 10% to start with. Run time for sniper film: 1:27.

This film might be of interest for pre-adolescent SEAL wannabes, but others should stay away from this product. The best thing about this film is the price (it's just about the only good thing), but when you consider you waste four hours from your life by watching the films, it's not worth it.

Rating:
Summary: A Worthless Pile
Review: This was nothing more than an advertisement for a couple of ex-SEAL's who started a company. Obviously based on entry techniques, clearing, (etc...) it shows nothing interesting and was a complete waste of money. After the second disk I turned it off, and just gave it to someone. TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT! (for lack of a better printable word)