as one reviewer so eloquently described the target audience for this war flick
this is not a film hand-wringing peaceniks like myself are going to flock to
pretty well summing up my initial thoughts - na - give that one a miss
but - needed a fix - seen everything else on the tick list - give it a go
a win-win really - it will be as bad as expected - or it might not be
a faint hope that clint eastwood may produce another great film
straight into the action in iraq with an american armoured patrol
a huge lumbering tank and heavily armed soldiers going door to door
our man chris kyle (bradley cooper) positioned prone on a nearby rooftop
looking for danger through the telescope of his clearly high-powered rifle
a woman and boy sneak out - he has a grenade - permission given to shoot
bang - back a couple of decades and as a boy kyle shoots his first deer
redneck texan father then seen teaching his 2 boys the meaning of life
3 types of people - sheep (wimps) wolves (baddies) and sheep-dogs (us)
we gotta protect the flock boys - that's our job - no sheep in this family
thinking - this is bordering on a piss-take but sadly nope - it's for real
skip forward and the brothers then seen as tough-nut rodeo cowboys
and tougher still - kyle evicts his cheating girlfriend and her lover
eyes glaze over as he sees on tv the american embassy bombing
a calling for this sheep-dog - he signs up as a specialist navy SEAL
the toughest of the tough with scenes then of their physical training
looking more like outtakes from a stripes film - badass leaders to boot
a pickup scene in a bar snags taya (sienna miller) - he is so irresistible
more eye-glazing as they then watch live footage of the 9-11 attack
they marry and on the big day - woo-hoo - they get the callup - iraq
back to the rooftop and bang - he does take out the woman and boy
with the rushed background eastwood now thinks we have empathy
and off we go - this is where he wants to be - the first tour of duty
kyle picking off baddies as his cohorts smash it up door to door
high-tech gear in abundance as they totally intimidate the locals
the scenes so well done i am thankful at least for a reality check
but hoping forlornly for some respite and a sniff of decency
forget it - we are repeatedly told they are all 'fuckin savages'
the end of the first tour and back home with the little lady
he's a bit distracted though - watches tv news of war footage
she now pregnant and waves goodbye as he goes back again
and so the pattern repeats - 4 tours - 1000 days - 160 kills
the big final battle scene and he is onto his enemy nemesis
also a skilled sniper - slow motion shot of the bullet that kills
kyle so good he picks him off lying on a rooftop a mile away
a sand-storm whips up and chaotic scenes of the boys bailing
racing off in a vehicle - where's kyle - open the door - voila
somehow he's managed to keep up with the speeding truck
crikey he's such a superdude - then relief - back 'stateside'
the bit i'm looking forward to - an expose of post-war stress
we see kyle staring at a blank tv and talking to maimed vets
then magically he seems all good and playing the perfect dad
final scene - goes off to a shooting range with one of the vets
end of film - a line of text advising he was murdered there
then actual footage of the legend's funeral procession
two hours later - my feeling - complete ambivalence
but post screening review reading and this summary
American Sniper is precision-targeted at complete fucking morons. This is a hagiography of a literal mass-murderer - straight-up pornography for those who get off on seeing poor people being bloodily dispatched by high-powered weaponry. Its Manichean philosophy affirms flag-waving nationalism aka the vile ideology of those who will happily carry out whatever atrocity they're ordered to by their superiors. And it's got the gall to say we're the sheep.
hagiography - book making someone's life better than it was
manichean - morale course of action based on good vs evil
could not have put it any better - waste of time - nope
an affirmation of the perception of the american way
spend up big destroying things - then make some films
got to keep those sheep moving in the 'right' direction
good thing eastwood is 80+ else it'd be clint for prez
this film - win-win - as bad and better then expected...
