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American Sniper (2014)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Jason Hall, Chris Kyle (novel)
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Elise Robertson, Kyle Gallner,
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama
Length: 133 minutes
A dramatized biography of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and his time in the Iraq war where he gained legendary status as an ace marksman. But after four exhausting tours of duty, his family situation had deteriorated. On leave back in the USA, Chris can't unwind. He's a stranger to his own family, detached with his mind still on the Iraq war.
Like all snipers his job is to kill dangerous people and protect his fellow troops. In that he excels. But he's an obsessive hero who's wiling to put his own troops in harms way just so that he can kill an infamous Iraqi sniper, at least that is what the movie shows.
American Sniper is a cold hard look at the reality of war. I was stunned by the scene with the Iraqi woman and her small son carrying a bomb. I could feel the gut wrenching tension as she approached U.S. troops and the sniper looking through a high power rifle scope has to decide if it's a real bomb or not. If it's a bomb, he will kill her. If he does nothing his troops can be killed...and if he shoots and is wrong he's going to prison. The tension is paramount. Such is the way of war.
Many people seem to hate this movie as they hate war. War is always hell, but a film that shows us that hell and shows it brutally honest is a rare thing. American Sniper is a rare movie with guts. Clint Eastwood shows us the brutal reality of war and yet takes great care to show the sniper, Chris Kyle as an emotional human being. He's not a killing machine, though that's his job. Where Eastwood succeeds is in showing us the psychological toll the killing has taken on Chris.
When Chris comes home we see just what price he's mentally paid for his time in Iraq. And we see the anguish and pain that it causes his wife and family too. This is as it should be, war is not about heroes and bad guys, it's about shattered life's.
Bradley Cooper does an amazing job at showing the strength and weakness in Chris Kyle. He could have played this character as a emotionless figure, but the actor gives us just enough subtleties in his emotions to understand the hardships he endures.
Sienna Miller who plays his wife, is the other equation in this. Through her we see how military families can suffer just as much as the soldiers.
American Sniper felt like one of the realist war films I've seen.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Jason Hall, Chris Kyle (novel)
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Elise Robertson, Kyle Gallner,
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama
Length: 133 minutes
A dramatized biography of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and his time in the Iraq war where he gained legendary status as an ace marksman. But after four exhausting tours of duty, his family situation had deteriorated. On leave back in the USA, Chris can't unwind. He's a stranger to his own family, detached with his mind still on the Iraq war.
Like all snipers his job is to kill dangerous people and protect his fellow troops. In that he excels. But he's an obsessive hero who's wiling to put his own troops in harms way just so that he can kill an infamous Iraqi sniper, at least that is what the movie shows.
American Sniper is a cold hard look at the reality of war. I was stunned by the scene with the Iraqi woman and her small son carrying a bomb. I could feel the gut wrenching tension as she approached U.S. troops and the sniper looking through a high power rifle scope has to decide if it's a real bomb or not. If it's a bomb, he will kill her. If he does nothing his troops can be killed...and if he shoots and is wrong he's going to prison. The tension is paramount. Such is the way of war.
Many people seem to hate this movie as they hate war. War is always hell, but a film that shows us that hell and shows it brutally honest is a rare thing. American Sniper is a rare movie with guts. Clint Eastwood shows us the brutal reality of war and yet takes great care to show the sniper, Chris Kyle as an emotional human being. He's not a killing machine, though that's his job. Where Eastwood succeeds is in showing us the psychological toll the killing has taken on Chris.
When Chris comes home we see just what price he's mentally paid for his time in Iraq. And we see the anguish and pain that it causes his wife and family too. This is as it should be, war is not about heroes and bad guys, it's about shattered life's.
Bradley Cooper does an amazing job at showing the strength and weakness in Chris Kyle. He could have played this character as a emotionless figure, but the actor gives us just enough subtleties in his emotions to understand the hardships he endures.
Sienna Miller who plays his wife, is the other equation in this. Through her we see how military families can suffer just as much as the soldiers.
American Sniper felt like one of the realist war films I've seen.