American Sniper

Bradley Cooper is simply one of the elite actors working today. He has now been nominated for 3 acting Oscars. It's debatable whether or not he was better than other actors this year, I will judge that once I have seen all the films, but he is definitely Oscar worthy in American Sniper. But he's not the only great thing about this film. Clint Eastwood does a great job directing and the editing and special effects are top notch. It's one of the most intense films I have seen this year and so I have no problem with some of the nominations this movie received.

It's really just an incredible story. At times the film can be heartbreaking. Almost half of my theater walked out weeping. I didn't cry, but man was this a tough one to watch. The fact that all of this (presumably) actually happened just makes it that much more difficult. One of the key scenes from the trailer begins the film and it sets the tone for just how intense it will be. Eastwood didn't really hold back on the brutality of killing over a hundred people, and the aftermath of what it does to a person. I initially thought the back and forth between the tours and his family life would take away from the experience but it really didn't. Sienna Miller did a very good job of giving us that emotion without overdoing it.

Bradley Cooper bulked up and also brought the emotional gravitas it takes to lead this type of film. Chris Kyle gets literally lost in fighting this war that he doesn't realize how much this is negatively impacting his family and Cooper perfectly portrayed that. I also don't know if I have seen PTSD better displayed than it was here. Of course I wouldn't actually know how that feels but I do know that the subtly with which Cooper portrayed it was very effective. They also didn't make this person out to be too much of a hero. I appreciate that they didn't take killing this many people lightly.

I also agree with the way Eastwood decided to end the film. Without spoilers I don't think there's any other way you could have served the film and it's real life characters better. American Sniper is a difficult film to watch, but it's one of the better ones this year.

+Cooper's multidimensional performance

+Story structure

+Eastwood's directing

+Doesn't hold back with the top notch editing

8.4/10

I spent 27 years in the US Army, was in Operation Desert Storm (the original), was vehemently opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thought this movie was one of the best military/war movies I've ever seen. The realism was there, Bradley Cooper was phenomenal, the angst of a soldier during battle was portrayed brilliantly, the decisions we ask kids to make are real and they were realistically shown on screen, and as this film makes clear--war isn't a walk in the park. Anybody who thinks Bradley Cooper is a flash in the pan is sadly mistaken; this guy is the real thing. Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now, Charlie Sheen in Platoon, and now Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. You've got to go all the way back to Gregory Peck in Pork Chop Hill or George C. Scott in Patton to get even close to an actor that gave a better performance in this genre. I saw it twice. Couldn't get through it the first time and had to walk out- -I got so damned furious at George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld for murdering all these innocent kids I couldn't watch anymore. Once I got past that I went back to see it again and trust me--it's phenomenal.

I was very intrigued with the trailer, mesmerized to say the least. The movie was another thing.

When I was the USA I met this Chris, he was no hero. Just a guy with a rifle and a sense that he was right.

For most of the patriots there is no room for the idea that Kyle might have been a good soldier but a bad guy; ()or a mediocre guy doing a difficult job badly; ()or a complex guy in a bad war who convinced himself he loved killing to cope with an impossible situation; ()or a straight-up serial killer exploiting an oppressive system that, yes, also employs lots of well-meaning, often impoverished, non-serial-killer people to do oppressive things over which they have no control.

()Or that Iraqis might be fully realised human beings with complex inner lives who find joy in food and sunshine and family, and anguish in the murders of their children.

()Or that you can support your country while thinking critically about its actions and its citizenry.

I'm even surprised to see that people vote it "Best of"...

Well what do I know, I'm just an European.

Clint did this instead of Spielberg apparently.

Compared to Clints' superb Gran Torino why the horrible empty feeling after watching this.

Film wise great set pieces, sound and action. Also graphically depicts from a single sided point of view anyway, the horror of modern warfare.

Directorially it has plenty of set piece sequences seemingly from video games such as endless spawning enemies to be machine gunned / sniped from various angles.

Cooper & Miller do their bits admirably as cut scene fillers but did we care? Iraqis were "savages". 150 confirmed deaths presented as a game score. Funnily enough the most prominent death: that of our protagonist gets no time at all.

This could / should have been the Deer Hunter of our time but didn't even deliver the Post Traumatic War syndrome message meaningfully.

Both historically and in reality, this movie is a profound embellishment of the truth. I won't go into the real domestic situation of the sniper and his wife, you can google it and see that this movie is nothing but a fabrication. This was guy was not the wonderful kind family man as portrayed in the movie.

This movie is great entertainment as far as war movies go... but if you want accuracy ..... move on.