Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle’s pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home to his wife and kids after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can’t leave behind.
Starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner.
Directed by Clint Eastwood.
This review was particularly difficult to do, coming from my hippy, tree-hugging opinion. I usually do not view movies of this genre unless they are recognized by the Academy. I remember years ago, when Hurt Locker was one of those. It just depressed me to be honest, and not just because of it’s genre. The element that I appreciated the best though is the message; war changes people. I’m very glad that notion was worked in to the extent that it was. Cooper portrayed Kyle’s character very reasonably and in a way that the military culture of America can relate to. I’m not one to understand or challenge that culture on it’s true behaviors, but if I had to guess, I would think this movie hit the nail on the head. The technical aspects of it where done right also. My hat is off to the crew that had that difficult job of replicating war. It cannot be easy.
The criticism I have is with the scripting and general atmosphere that this film gives off. I feel there was a lot of scenes that contained too much misplaced emotionalism between him and his wife. Some of it seemed far too exaggerated and seemed unnatural. It also did not have the shine I was looking for as I felt with other Oscar nominees, like Zero Dark Thirty. With Zero gave a little bit of light to dark situations, where I felt dark all the way through this one. All in all, I would not recommend this for the whole family. Those who consider themselves super-patriotic or enjoys the war genre, it might be a cinematic triumph. To those like me, save your pennies for another movie.