American Sniper

American Sniper tells the story of Chris Kyle, "the most lethal sniper US military history". Bradley Cooper, in a riveting, incredible performance, portrays Kyle. I haven't seen the other Best Actor nominees this year, but with David Oyeloww not nominated for Selma, it would be hard for me to imagine anybody's performance being better than Cooper's. We follow Kyle's life through his enlistment, his SEAL training and then four tours of duty in Iraq. Along the way, he makes difficult decisions on people to snipe, leads assaults, and becomes emotionally hardened, nearly leading to divorce. Kyle develops a high profile among his squadmates, who nickname him "Legend" for his skills. In the end, the story of American Sniper is told very well. The movie itself is well-made and, if you're not ready for it, the ending is a gutpunch extraordinaire. My theater was absolutely dead silent after the movie was over as people filed out. You could have heard a pin drop. Easily the quietest I've ever heard. Anyway, my rating? 8/10.

Having said that, I am uncomfortable with at least some of the factual changes and inaccuracies. I don't like it when "based on a true story" movies change key events. I don't mind so much if something isn't real important but when it IS? That I have a problem with. Example: One of the key scenes early after Kyle goes to Iraq, one heavily featured in ads and trailers, has been altered. It happened but Eastwood changed it to make it far more heart string-pulling. Not cool. Some of the other things, like changing the bounty on Kyle, or having the movie center on the chase of an Iraqi sniper, are merely altered and don't hurt the movie per se. I've also seen criticism that a doll was used in two places instead of a live baby. In my group of 12 people, nobody noticed that. I doubt I would have cared if I did notice. It's a triviality that doesn't detract from the movie.

I've also seen lots of people, including many who haven't seen it but are somehow experts on it, criticizing the movie for being pro-war or jingoistic or for showing all Iraqis as bad people. I think that criticism is off-base and misses the point of the movie. The story of the movie is Chris Kyle, his view of the war and what he went through. In his mind and perspective, the war was a righteous one that he believed in. And that's the story being told here. If you're looking for a movie that presents a fair-and-balanced "should we have been there at all?" type of perspective, you're looking at the wrong movie and to criticize American Sniper for not being that movie is simply unfair. It's akin to criticizing a movie on the life of Walter Payton for not dwelling on the NFL's concussion problems.

I've also seen a lot of people wonder about the movie because of Chris Kyle's credibility issues. No question about it, this is a guy who lied about stuff. I think, however, that his general story, the one in the movie, is generally authentic and one that can be separated from some of the other nonsense stories he told. It's a powerful story and one not changed by the protagonist's credibility issues in any meaningful way.