American Sniper (2014)

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner

Synopsis:
US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle goes through multiple tours in Iraq, struggling with the war's toll on himself and his family.

Impressions:
This movie has managed to kick up quite a bit of dirt, but has also managed to enjoy quite a bit of critical and commercial success. I'm not going to step into the political firestorm and I'll admit to the limitations of my perspective having never been sent downrange. I do have some problems with the liberties taken with the facts, but that's true for any of these "true story" films. It does at least succeed at being respectful of Chris Kyle's memory and his struggle, the latter extending to all the veterans of the war. Narratively speaking, the construct of Mustafa as Kyle's rival across his tours makes for a nice parallelism. I have to give all due credit to Bradley Cooper for his portrayal of Kyle. The handling of PTSD is rather subtle, which may or may not be a good thing in your view. Depending on your views on the subject matter, the movie may not be for you. If that's the case, there's no point in riling yourself up over it. However, for what it is, it's worth seeing. Give it a watch.

Rating:
Watch It