Movie Review: "American Sniper" (2014)

After I got home from seeing American Sniper, I posted the following to Facebook:

"I saw American Sniper (review coming soon) today. It's an intense, emotional movie. I know it's not entirely accurate & creative license was taken with the story (it is a movie after all). I also don't know how much Chris Kyle's book is accurate, but I really don't care. As far as I am concerned, based on that movie, he was an American hero. It sure makes talk about deflated footballs even more tiresome & irrelevant than it already was."

That post sums up a lot of how I feel about this movie (directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper & Sienna Miller). It's about the life of Chris Kyle (Cooper) who served 4 tours of duty in the Iraq War as a Navy SEAL where he was the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history with 160 confirmed kills. During this time, whenever he returned home, Chris had a hard time dealing with life outside of the war. His relationship with his wife Taya (Miller) becomes very strained as he is always distracted by memories of his war experience. He seems to only be comfortable when fighting. He & Taya have two children together and this doesn't help the distant relationship he maintains with his family. During his time in Iraq though, he's the best at what he does. He saves countless other soldiers' lives with his skills as a sniper. Because of these skills, he becomes a hunted man by the insurgents. He ultimately returns home after an honorable discharge. He becomes even more edgy than ever and has a hard time adjusting to civilian life. He finally begins to adjust, helped by the support he provides to other veterans who have suffered severe injuries. His fate is ultimately decided by one of those soldiers he is trying to help.

As I have already said, this movie is intense & emotional and it is also very sad. It is an excellent portrayal of war and the repercussions of war once a warfighter has to return home & adjust to life outside of war. It also does a great job of depicting the toll that war talks on a warfighter's family. So much of this movie is carried by Cooper and his performance as Chris. He not only changed his body by bulking up to match Chris' physique, he vividly portrays this complex man with perfection. It is by far his best performance as an actor...he BECAME Chris. Eastwood delivers this movie as no other director could have done with his sure-handed direction & vision.

I loved American Sniper...9.0/10 stars