Posted on 01/16/2015 3:04:02 PM PST by Kaslin
War movies often focus on battles over personalities. In great films like Lone Survivor (2013) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), some of the battle sequences are so real and devastating that it’s easy to get lost in them and lose focus on the individual soldiers trying to survive. Those films often attempt to show viewers what it must be like to be in the midst of an intense and devastating battle.
American Sniper, which only yesterday was nominated for six Academy Awards,is different.
It’s more of a character study than a war film with the main character being a Texan who joins the Navy SEALS and grows to become “the legend:” a military icon who was reportedly the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history.
Oscar-nominated Bradley Cooper plays Chris Kyle, the beloved war veteran whose service was well-known even before his autobiography was released several years ago. When the film begins, Kyle is a tough Southerner who loves his country, his girlfriend and his beer but something seems to change in him when the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are bombed. He sees something in the world and is angered enough to want to do something about it.
His journey leads him to the SEALS where, at 30, he stands as one of the oldest soldiers at camp. “I’m not like most men, sir. I don’t quit,” he tells one of his superiors when questioned about his age. During the feature’s first thirty minutes, Kyle slowly develops into a soldier as he trains and prepares for battle. Some of the training scenes may seem a bit obvious (especially if you’ve seen other films about going into battle) but they are only leading up to the important part: Kyle’s service overseas, which is handled gracefully by Clint Eastwood.
When Kyle becomes a sniper, he’s thankfully not presented as a gung-ho soldier wanting to make his mark in the military. He’s simply a patriotic man who wants to serve his country and save his fellow soldiers from the “evil” that exists out there. (If you question the existence of such evil, think about how crazed one must be to give a child a bomb and ask them to sacrifice their lives by murdering others.) Even though Kyle sees such evil as a sniper in Iraq, he always hesitates before shooting knowing that people can always change their minds about their decisions. Even when he becomes “a legend” serving his country on four tours of duty, Kyle’s humility always shines through. He’s a man with a job to do, he realizes, and he’s saddened by those whose lives he couldn’t save.
The heart of the film though lies back in the United States where Taya (Sienna Miller), Kyle’s wife, is caring for their children. When they meet, Taya is hesitant to date a military man but slowly welcomes Kyle, the rough-and-tumble patriot, into her world. But as she sees, military life is difficult and it’s hard not to understand Taya’s growing frustration when her husband seems to choose the military over her family time and again. Even though the relationship only comes alive when Kyle is at home, Eastwood makes it overshadow Kyle’s entire military career, showing the sacrifices families must make when one of their own is sent into a war zone.
When Kyle is away (and we see the two of them chat over the phone several times while he’s on a mission), Taya is alone and even when he’s home, he’s still thinking about protecting his friends overseas.
Unlike some of Eastwood’s recent projects (Jersey Boys and Hereafter come to mind), there’s a great subtlety to American Sniper. Kyle’s world is presented from his perspective but there are small hints and notes that there are larger issues at play. Soldiers talk to Kyle about their questioning the war itself while Kyle’s brother, a veteran himself, becomes overwhelmed by what he has to do overseas and because he lives in the shadow of “the legend” himself.
“You’re my hero, bro. Always have been,” the brother notes with a sadness and fear overwhelming his pained face.
There are some who argue that American Sniper is too simplistic in both its depiction of the war and of Kyle himself. During the opening scenes, I could agree but as the story grows and the world becomes more apparent, Cooper— in possibly his best performance to date— and Eastwood present a subtle but powerful depiction of an American soldier who, even as he leaves the Navy, never quits serving his nation.
Here is my take on the movie after watching the matinee.
If you are an american and support our soldiers, then this movie is a must see.
It demonstrates the American Soldier and the excruciating decisions they make everyday to save the lives of their brothers and the future proetection of innocents.
Sometimes it means killing a kid or a woman, who are very unnatural enemies and conflict the concience.
Then there is the deep seated desire, to even focus on chasing a killer to the exclusion of all else.
It also shows a man who struggled with coming home and his job but, ultimately though he knew he had to go home.
Home to his family and to help vets with PTSD.
It has a different tempo not unlike other sniper movies but, this is a real story about real events and a real man.
We saw it this afternoon great picture time went fast. Cooper did an outstanding performance of CK and looked like him. One part of the movie puzzled me and that’s when he, never mind I’ll wait till more see it the film he was a great warrior, get on Craft Int’l and buy his hat to support Taya.
I knew Chris, my son was in school with him and played little league on a team with him. The film has special meaning to me. I also knew Chad Mayfield that died with Chris.
All true, and it showed how military service is traumatic all around.
ping
Can’t wait to see it tomorrow!
I had considered puttimg together a FReeper Tx Cowboy shoot on the range where they died. but it seemed a bit morbid/meloncholy at the time rather than a memorial.
Did you like the movie? (Please, no plot spoilers...)
Haven’t seen it yet...but that’s in the trailer...glad you mentioned that...it does sound like a directorial miss step.
Other details were great.
Eastwood got the Soviet scope reticles correct.
I plan to see it tomorrow afternoon or Sunday afternoon
That was also in the book. Taya and Chris talked often on his sat phone.
Wasn’t he at Waco, too?
yes I did, very much.
The spoiler was what we all knew was coming.
Crazy on many levels.
I don’t know what that Soviet scope thing is...but glad that detail is correct.
Won’t see it this weekend, too many people at the theatre... :)
Is there anything really gorey? Not like combat scenes, but anything torture/sadistic? I’d like to see this movie but I can’t deal with those types of scenes.
I don’t think so. Don’t know.
More than once, I have seen FReepers blame Clinton for Ruby Ridge, so devoted are they to the fiction that the Bushes are “patriots.”
At Ruby Ridge, and Waco, and Oklahoma City, the “U.S.” government murdered innocent Americans. Most Americans got the message: Shut up and conform.
It’s a good film, I just get overly critical of films.
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