Shake the hand of Marcus Luttrell, and there's no mistaking the grip of someone who spent many a year holding a weapon. A former U.S. Navy SEAL, Luttrell is your 21st-century war hero, with a book and movie deal relating his near-fatal experiences in Afghanistan. He was in Tokyo recently to promote "Lone Survivor," the movie of his saga that stars Mark Wahlberg. Yet he's also a plain-spoken Texan with little regard for the trappings of celebrity, a man with an intensity in his gaze that lingers from his wartime days.

With good reason: "Lone Survivor" depicts Operation Red Wings, in which a four-member SEAL team was dropped into enemy territory in June 2005 to track down a Taliban commander. A twist of fate led to the team being ambushed by a swarm of enemy fighters; Luttrell was the only one to make it back, thanks to Afghan villagers who protected him.

Luttrell wakes up every morning with the names of his three teammates, as he calls them, tattooed on his body — this is clearly something he will be living with for the rest of his life. So I ask him, wasn't it hard to revisit these events so clearly in the film?