American Sniper

Actors:  Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner, Sam Jaeger, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict

Rating: 9 out of 10, The movie featured Eastwood’s usual technical expertise and the story was very compelling. I think it connected with a lot of Americans because it was so unapologetic, as Hollywood is certainly wont to do. A simple Texas guy has a gift with his rifle and is motivated to protect his fellow countrymen. The left wing nutbags came out bemoaning the glorification of violence but I thought it did a great job of painting the price Kyle paid for his heroics. That’s really my only complaint about this superb movie – they didn’t really explore in any great depth how Kyle overcame his PTSD. It seemed one minute he had it and then all of a sudden he was better. Cooper richly deserves the accolades he received as the title character delivering some real nuance to the role as a supremely tough guy dealing with some demons. They also did a great job with the military aspects; spot on with American military jargon as well as the small unit tactics such as room clearing. War is a very nasty affair – the supremely violent human expression – to sugar coat it would amount to undue veneration. Eastwood eloquently demonstrates war isn’t something to be taken lightly, there’s real pain associated with the sacrifice.

MVP:  Cooper as the Legend, Chris Kyle