American Sniper (2014) Movie || Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes |updates Review & Facts

e e e e e e e e American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical War drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive produced by Jason Hall based on the Memoir American Sniper the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in US military history 2012 by Chris Kyle with Scott McKuen and Jim defis the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 250 five kills from four tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense five while Kyle was celebrated for his military successes his tours of Duty took a heavy toll on his personal and family life it stars Bradley kooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife tea with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Corey Hardrick Kevin LAX naid Negan and car O'Donnell in supporting roles at the 87th Academy Awards American Sniper received six nominations including best picture best adapted screenplay and best actor for Cooper ultimately winning one for best sound editing growing up in Texas Chris Kyle is taught by his father how to shoot a rifle and hunt deer years later Chris has become a ranch hand and Rodeo Cowboy and returns home early to find his girlfriend in bed with another man after telling her to leave he is mulling it over with his brother when he sees news coverage of the 1998 s Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with the US Navy Seals American Sniper premiered at the American Film Institute Festival on November 11th 2014 and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25th 2014 followed by a wide release on January 16th 2015 it received mostly positive reviews with praise for Cooper's lead performance and Eastwood's Direction although it also attracted some controversy over its portrayal of both the Iraq War and Kyle himself the film grossed over $547 million worldwide making it the 13th highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing film with a wide release during the month of January and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date Chris meets tea studabaker at an Irish pub in San Diego and the two soon marry he is sent to Iraq after the September 11th attacks his first kills are a woman and boy who attacked Marines on patrol with a russian-made rkg 3 anti-tank grenade Chris is visibly upset by the experience but later earns the nickname legend for his many kills guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour and TAA tells him she may not be there when he returns back in Iraq Chris is shocked to learn bigles died in surgery to repair the wounds he sustained assigned to kill Mustafa who has been sniping US Army combat engineers building a barricade Chris's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory Chris spots Mustafa and takes him out with a risky longdistance shot at 2100 yd 920m but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls te and tells her he is ready to come home a sandstorm provides concealment for a chaotic Escape in which he is injured and almost Left Behind after Chris gets back State Side on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life he is asked by a veteran affairs psychiatrist if he is haunted by all the things he did in war when he replies it is all the guys he couldn't save that haunt him the psychiatrist encourages him to help severely wounded veterans in the VA hospital after that Chris gradually begins to adjust to home life years later on February 2nd 2013 Chris says goodbye to his wife and family as he leaves in good spirits to spend time with Eddie Ray ralth of veteran suffering from PTSD at a shooting range an onscreen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by Ralph followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession morea shown attending his memorial service directed by Clint Eastwood in what some may take as alarmingly short order following Jersey Boys which was released only 6 months ago for heaven sake American Sniper proves the dicum never count an aour out by proving itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated Invictus pretty much right out of the starting gate opening with a brutally suspenseful moment of decision for its titular character Chris Kyle the movie establishes all of the things it's going to be about and the things it's not going to be about with plain but almost breathtaking Assurance assigned to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu musab alzarka Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the seals to the butcher Alara is second in command the plan goes Ary when the butcher captures the father and his son killing them while Chris is pinned down by a sniper this sniper goes by the name Mustafa and is an Olympic Games medalist from Syria meanwhile the insurgents issue a bounty on Chris Chris returns home to his wife and the birth of his son he is distracted by memories of his War experiences and by Tea's concern for them as a couple she wishes he would focus on his home and family Chris leaves for a second tour and is promoted to chief petty officer involved in a shootout with the butcher he helps in killing him when he returns home to a newborn daughter Chris becomes increasingly distant from his family on Chris's third tour Mustafa seriously injures a unit member Ryan bigle job and the unit is evacuated back to base when they decide to return to the field and continue the mission another seal Mark Lee is killed by gunfire sniper is based on a true story that got more complicated after Kyle himself told it in the book that gives the film its title adapted from that book by actor turn screenwriter Jason Dean Hall The Story begins after its aack set prologue showing Kyle as first a boy and then a young man a schoolyard bullying incident compels Kyle's father Ben Reed to give a scary dinner table fire and brimstone speech to Chris and younger brother Jeff about showing would be tough guys whose boss we protect our own the weight of expectation seems to jam the two boys down and in a Flash forward to the boys as young men they're leading the aimless lives of wannabe Rodeo stars that all changes when Chris decides to apply to join the special forces the film depicts him doing so after seeing TV coverage of the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya as he's developing a new sense of purpose while training he also meets future wife TAA Sienna Miller post n11 the war in Iraq puts Kyle to work as a sharpshooter and the film depicts his skills in this area as almost Eerie they were so in real life too as it happens Kyle racked up 160 confirmed kills making him the deadliest such operative in US Navy history Eastwood's handling of various battle scenarios including those in which Kyle is compelled to take down women and children is typically anti- elaborate for the director Grim purposeful compelling violence and its relation to both American history and the American character is one of Eastwood's great themes as both a filmmaker and a film actor American Sniper is a movie of violent action but its action is surrounded by a terrible Stillness its story of War contains Valor and horror the destructive and self-destructive conflicts that are intrinsic to a person endowed With A Warrior's Noble nature as such it's a cinematic tragedy in the deepest and most classical sense of the term Eastwood considers recent events with a fierce anger even as he considers the universal span of human experience with an Olympian roflan alongside the Angelic figure at the center of Richard linklater's Boyhood whose Texas youth is unshadowed by wild impulses or unruly thoughts there's another Texan whose altogether more complex and troubl tale is told by Eastwood in American Sniper which could as aptly be called manhood Eastwood's movie is centered on the true story of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL whose lethal Marksmanship put to action in the Iraq War was unprecedented the movie is based on Kyle's 2012 Memoir Nicholas schmidle wrote about Kyle in the magazine last year for the sake of clarity I'll call Eastwood's character Chris American Sniper starts with military action with Chris stretched out on a roof in fola gazing at the streets through a rifle sight at a young boy preparing to launch an explosive device handed to him by a woman presumably his mother against an approaching Marine Convoy but when the movie cuts to a flashback to Chris's childhood hunting lesson with his father during which he shoots a Year it turns into a truncated and telescoped cinematic building Roman telling the story of Chris's Boyhood as a sort of founding myth how an American boy grows up to become a singularly effective Soldier it's a family story that starts with Chris's father teaching him to hunt and discovering the boy's natural gift for Marksmanship Chris is a sort of Mozart of the rifle but it takes a particular and peculiar Confluence of circumstances for him to Marshall his talent for something more than sport from the earliest age Chris is cast in the role of protector he defends his younger brother Jeff from a bully in the schoolyard and Chris's father sets up the scenario in a dinner table anecdote that plays out like country Plato saying that there are three kinds of people wolves predators sheep victims and sheep dogs protecting sheep against wolves the metaphor Finds Its echo in Plato's Republic in which Socrates explicitly Likens societies Guardians with their penchant both for ferocity and for patriotism to dogs in Plato's dialogue the Guardians are put through a rigorous philosophical training not least on the assumption that they will also be the rulers of an ideally just Society Chris doesn't have a philosophical training he has Christian faith a sense of family and above all a fund of life experience albeit one that arises from a very particular tradition there's a moment early in the film in which Eastwood cues in a glance the impending tragedy a very brief shot of Chris seen through a doorway heading to rodor rounds which borrows from the final shot of John Ford's the Searchers it's just a touch but it's a brilliant one Eastwood marks Chris from the start with his coming isolation even in the young man's easy days of sporting Adventure his character Bears the seed of the awesome price that he'll pay for his distinction but it's a distinction that arises from the enduring Spirit of the western translated into modernity for better and worse but he is not a director of an overly analytical or intellectualizing bent and this turns out out to be one of this movie's great strengths it has nothing to say about whether the war in Iraq was a good or bad idea it simply is and Kyle is an actor in it and he's also a devoted husband and father but Kyle is more than just an actor in the war he's a True Believer in what he's doing and his intensity in this respect bleeds into his relationships back at home in ways that can't help but be unsettling when a fellow Soldier is killed in a raid Kyle returns to the US to attend the funeral at the gravide a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home Chris a to tea that what killed his friend was that letter tea doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of tea well played by Sienna Miller this and her Turnin foxcatcher represent a release from movie jail for the actress could have been another stock complaining military wife in other hands in this film she's more complex she clearly knows that the qualities she admires loves in Kyle his rigid loyalty and sharp Focus his determination to see his commitments through are inextricable from his identity as a military operative but even a warrior as devoted as Kyle can't escape being messed with by his mission as the film continues and the sniper's rep grows more fearsome the nature of his accomplishments gets Messier and Messier and by the time the sniper has completed his tour the viewer has good reason to be a little or more than a little frightened by the guy but tea is not this puts the whole story on an oddly suspended note that as it happens is resolved by a real life ending that's not very Hollywood here is a one- sentence review of American Sniper the Marshall virtues are so precious rare and fragile that they should be sent into combat only with the greatest caution Clint Eastwood's new film is political in the highest sense of the word he dramatizes the use and abuse of state power in the light of great philosophical ideas these ideas illuminate the drama not as if from afar but from within they aren't imposed on the drama but arise spontaneously from Eastwood's contemplation of people and events and they find Echoes throughout his career the Latter-Day cowboy has no Frontier and no range Chris comes to realize that for all his aptitude he's a cardboard Cowboy living his life for show for a kind of show biz that's low in substance Chris's sense of self is undermined by his girlfriend's infidelity a key moment that by his sense of purpose with his sense of masculinity and his incho sense of higher purpose is aroused by the 1998 attacks against American embassies in Nairobi and dar e salum for Chris America isn't just a Homeland and a sense of self it's an idea and Eastwood dramatizes the mounting nightmare of a man of unique talent who is increasingly possessed by that idea American Sniper is the story of a genius in crisis it's a movie like eastwoods bird in which Charlie Parker's singular Talent Talent comes with a self-destructive streak Chris undergos a singularly demanding training to become a seal it's physically severe and emotionally brutal and Chris submits to it unquestioningly and endures its rigors triumphantly until he gets to the shooting range there his genius Rises to the surface in a scene that has explicitly to do with vision he dares to contradict his Marksmanship instructor's order and proves that he sees more and better than his instructor does for Eastwood the military makes a man with which war then destroys but Eastwood doesn't fill the movie with the details of practical politics he sets up Chris's fighting with a mighty intensely focused abstraction the lies behind the rush to war are never explored explicitly nor is the war in Afghanistan or any debate regarding America's General strategies against Al-Qaeda there's no reference to the torture of Iraqis at Abu jih to debates over the Iraq war or to any explicit policy discussions at all yet the movie doesn't convey a sense of a whitewash rather Eastwood reduces Chris's situation to its most Elemental and shows that even under optimal circumstances with completely dedicated and professional fighting forces operating under political premises that they believe in even if the Iraq War were to pass moral muster as a just war and political muster as a necessary one it would be equally destructive to the soldiers who wage it and the fact that this war doesn't pass either test is for Eastwood a political damnation of the very first order for Chris it feels great to shoot and terrible to kill great to protect one's own and awful to do what's needed to protect one's own his quickly mounting count of confirmed kills gets him nicknamed The Legend and he hates it because he knows that he's being acclaimed for doing something that he knows to be both holy and sinful too sacred for desecration and vulgar slogans and too horrific to be celebrated from the very start of Eastwood's directorial career Play Misty For Me the conflict between public image and private identity is a morally decisive fault line and the demagogue who doesn't just have an incidental Public Image but takes pride in it and seeks to derive Advantage from it is a singular villain a Bible carrier more than a Bible reader Chris senses that he's defending the Faith by violating its fundamental tenants and that he's being celebrated for the worst part of his service and even more that the celebration of Warriors reveals the ignorance of the unbearable truth of battle even as he becomes one of American society Heroes Chris becomes in his own mind a pariah unfit for Society at the same time the tormented Chris returning home between tours of Duty deems Society unfit for the likes of him the very Comforts and Pleasures to which a family man aspires now strike him as unseemly the obliviousness of a society that enjoys those Pleasures while its most Valiant members are fighting a horrific War far away strikes him as a desecration of the sacrifices of those fighters in the name of their Valor War itself becomes a sort of white whale a goal pursued furiously and monom maniacally for its own sake without regard to purpose or consequence Chris is both fiercely protective of his comrades in arms and Furious at what he sees as evil he sees his mission as both necessary and just and that very fact renders it all the more painful he personally doesn't have doubts about his mission even though he finds others including his brother Jeff also serving in Iraq who do that sense of righteousness drives Chris deeper into division against himself the more certain he may be of the justice of his fight the more ardently he takes the fight to the enemy despite his Keen sense of pain at dealing death and his Keen awareness that the more aggressively he pursues his mission and defends his colleagues the greater will be the sacrifice demanded of them the greater the likelihood that they'll be wounded or killed Eastwood greatly admires even rers the warrior even as he hates War not on principle not because it's intrinsically wrong but because it's intrinsically destructive to Warriors to American warriors he comes off as righteously angry at politicians who sent Chris into Iraq not least for feeding him a false story about the national interest which Chris swallows completely and which ratchets up his Furious sense of protecting the American Homeland from threats originating in Iraq Eastwood depicts commanding officers who are out of touch with events on the ground one is fixated on the use of contractors another is leading the counterinsurgency by the book and another calls Chris onto the carpet for shooting an insurgent and has a Sly contempt for international institutions as well as seen in several snide sidebars regarding a place in the Olympics for the Insurgent deadliest sniper Bradley Cooper who saw this project passed from Steven Spielberg to Eastwood is understatedly conflicted as Kyle whom we first meet on a fer rooftop a woman and child in his rifle sights spiraling back to the young marksman's first kill on a hunting trip we learned that hesitation is a we Ness and here Kyle's dad explained that there are only three types of people sheep wolves and sheep dogs yet after the nin1 attacks Kyle seems more coyote than collie his family life collapsing as War takes its toll only at peace when his Killer Instinct is in play he may have a loving wife the lately impressive Sienna Miller at home but it's gunfire that puts lead in his pencil what heavy breathing there is here comes from pre-trigger exhalation shots fired between heartbeats after lengthy play in moments of lethal ecstasy later a wounded veteran talks of getting his balls back on the pumping end of a rifle butt Eastwood plays all this with a poker face and some viewers have taken it at face value with polarizing results perhaps like Flags of Our Fathers which Eastwood paired with letters from Iowa gima American Sniper needs a more didactic balancing element Spielberg wanted to expand the role of the Iraqi sniper who becomes Kyle's Nemesis but Eastwood has stripped things back so so that we observe the action through aim on the occasion of the John Huston retrospective at Film Society of Lincoln Center I Revisited his documentary let there be light about Second World War veterans all young men who were suffering from mental illness as a result of their combat experience the most moving element for me in Huston's film is one patients account of a visit from an acquaintance he says before I come out here to see you my first impression was like in Bell the fellows from the last war that are completely Maniacs the shocking remark twists the proverb that generals are always prepared to fight the last war each War results in disorders of which the next war is a symptom each War loses a generation one Aras Maniac is in Huston's time suffering from a psychotic disorder now returning veterans are diagnosed with PTSD for Eastwood they're all enduring the same ailment War as hell and those who are in a position to send soldiers into war had better understand that diagnosis Eastwood includes in the cast of American Sniper soldiers who have been grievously wounded in combat soldiers who have lost limbs whose surviving limbs have been mutilated soldiers in wheelchairs who perform alongside the movie star Bradley Cooper its casting akin to that of heral Russell a second world war veteran Who Lost His Hands in combat and was fitted with prosthetic hands in William wier's 1946 Masterwork the best years of our lives there Russell who had never acted in a movie is one one of the three stars alongside Dana Andrews and Frederick March in the course of that drama it's not Russell's character but the former fighter pilot played by Andrews who is most conspicuously suffering from the emotional traumas of combat Yet the movie that American Sniper most brought to mind was the 24 documentary oh Uomo by the Italian filmmakers yant janikian and Angela Ricki lukai they present archival footage of the first world war including images of veterans who were disfigured in combat the movie includes Battlefield footage and images of survivors military and civilian as well as the primordial Rumblings of the second world war and fascist Italy's war in Ethiopia in the mid 1930s the documentarians draw a line from one derangement to another and so does Eastwood the wreckage of another generation in the last decade of warfare May well be not chastening but maddening May terrifyingly bear the seeds of more self-destructive violence odd family country after the awkward drimia of Jersey Boys a musical with a tin ear for its Tunes Clint Eastwood is back in the saddle with this Bleak Western inflected Thriller adapted from the autobiography of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL nicknamed The Legend really who racked up more than 160 confirmed kills as a marksman in Iraq American Sniper finds Eastwood returning once again to Unforgiven thorny themes of guns and retribution intensely cinematic fashion that the title taken from the book should ironically Echo Brett East Ellis's satirically vitriolic portrait of male psychosis is appropriate the film allowing its audience to view Kyle as either hero or villain or both Rick and eyes only our Focus as blinkered as that of its titular killer as such it makes for disturbing viewing the understandably clumsy closing Koda necessitated by events in 2013 forcing the film finally towards flag waving endorsement in the face of unfolding tragedy at home American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical War drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive produced by Jason Hall based on the Memoir American Sniper the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in US military history 2012 by Chris Kyle with Scott McKuen and Jim defis the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense five while Kyle was celebrated for his military successes his tours of Duty took a heavy toll on his personal and family life it stars Bradley Cooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife tea with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Corey Hardrick Kevin LAX naid Negan and car O'Donnell in supporting roles at the 87th Academy Awards American Sniper received six nominations including best picture best adapted screenplay and best actor for Cooper ultimately winning one for best sound editing growing up in Texas Chris Kyle is taught by his father how to shoot a rifle and hunt deer years later Chris has become a ranch hand and Rodeo Cowboy and returns home early to find his girlfriend in bed with another man after telling her to leave he is mulling it over with his brother when he sees news coverage of the 1998 s Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with US Navy Seals American Sniper premiered at the American Film Institute Festival on November 11th 2014 and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25th 2014 followed by a wide release on January 16th 2015 it received mostly positive reviews with praise for Cooper's lead performance and eastwoods Direction although it also attracted some controversy over its portrayal of both the Iraq War and Kyle himself the film grossed over $547 million worldwide making it the 13th highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing film with a wide release during the month of January and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date Chris meets tea studabaker at an Irish pub in San Diego and the two soon Mary he is sent to Iraq after the September 11th attacks his first kills are a woman and boy who attacked US Marines on patrol with a russian-made rkg 3 anti-tank grenade Chris is visibly upset by the experience but later earns the nickname legend for his many kills guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour and TAA tells him she may not be there when he returns back in Iraq Chris is shocked to learn bigles died in surgery to repair the wounds he sustained assigned to kill Mustafa who has been sniping US Army combat engineers building a barricade Chris's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory Chris spots Mustafa and takes him out with a risky longdistance shot at 2100 yard 1 920m but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls tea and tells her he is ready to come home a sandstorm provides concealment for a chaotic Escape in which he is injured and almost Left Behind after Chris gets back State Side on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life he is asked by a Veteran affair as psychiatrist if he is haunted by all the things he did in war when he replies it is all the guys he couldn't save that haunt him the psychiatrist encourages him to help severely wounded veterans in the VA hospital after that Chris gradually begins to adjust to home life years later on February 2nd 2013 Chris says goodbye to his wife and family as he leaves in good spirits to spend time with Eddie Ray ralth a veteran suffering from PTSD at a shooting range an onscreen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by r followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession more are shown attending his memorial service directed by Clint Eastwood in what some may take as alarmingly short order following Jersey Boys which was released only six months ago For Heaven's Sake American Sniper proves the dicum never count an aour out by proving itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated Invictus pretty much right out of the Starting Gate opening with a brutally suspenseful moment of decision for its titular character Chris Kyle the movie establishes all of the things it's going to be about and the things it's not going to be about with plain but almost breathtaking Assurance assigned to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu musab alzarka Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the seals to the butcher alzarka is second in command the plan goes arry when the butcher captures the father and his son killing them while Chris is pinned down by a sniper this sniper goes by the name Mustafa and is an Olympic Games medalist from Syria meanwhile the insurgents issue a bounty on Chris Chris returns home to his wife and the birth of his son he is distracted by memories of his War experiences and by Tea's concern for them as a couple she wishes he would focus on his home and family Chris leaves for a second tour and is promoted to chief petty officer involved in a shootout with the butcher he helps in killing him when he he returns home to a newborn daughter Chris becomes increasingly distant from his family on Chris's third tour Mustafa seriously injures a unit member Ryan bigle job and the unit is evacuated back to base when they decide to return to the field and continue the mission another seal Mark Lee is killed by gunfire sniper is based on a true story that got more complicated after Kyle himself told it in the book that gives the film its title adapted from that book by actor and screenwriter Jason Dean Hall The Story begins after its aack set prologue showing Kyle as first a boy and then a young man a schoolyard bullying incident compels Kyle's father Ben Reed to give a scary dinner table fire and brimstone speech to Chris and younger brother Jeff about showing would be tough guys whose boss we protect our own the weight of expectation seems to jam the two boys down and in a Flash forward to the boys as young men they're leading the aimless lives of wannabe Rodeo Stars that all changes when Chris decides to apply to join the special forces the film depicts him doing so after seeing TV coverage of the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya as he's developing a new sense of purpose while training he also meets future wife T Sienna Miller post n11 the war in Iraq puts Kyle to work as a sharpshooter and the film depicts his skills in this area as almost Eerie they were so in real life too as it happens Kyle racked up6 60 confirmed kills making him the deadliest such operative in US Navy history Eastwood's handling of various battle scenarios including those in which Kyle is compelled to take down women and children is typically anti- elaborate for the director Grim purposeful compelling violence and its relation to both American history and the American character is one of Eastwood's great themes as both a filmmaker and a film actor American Sniper is a movie of violent action but its action is surrounded by terrible Stillness its story of War contains Valor and horror the destructive and self-destructive conflicts that are intrinsic to a person endowed With A Warrior's Noble nature as such it's a cinematic tragedy in the deepest and most classical sense of the term Eastwood considers recent events with a fierce anger even as he considers the universal span of human experience with an Olympian ruthful alongside the Angelic figure at the center of Richard linklater's Boyhood whose Texas youth is unshadowed by wild impulses or unruly thoughts there's another Texan whose altogether more complex and troubl tale is told by Eastwood in American Sniper which could as aptly be called manhood Eastwood's movie is centered on the true story of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL whose lethal Marksmanship put to action in the Iraq War was unprecedented the movie is based on Kyle's 2012 Memoir Nicholas schmidle wrote about Kyle in the magazine last year for the sake of clarity I'll call Eastwood's char Chris American Sniper starts with military action with Chris stretched out on a roof in fola gazing at the streets through a rifle sight at a young boy preparing to launch an explosive device handed to him by a woman presumably his mother against an approaching Marine Convoy but when the movie cuts to a flashback to Chris's childhood hunting lesson with his father during which he shoots a deer it turns into a truncated and telescoped cinematic building Stroman telling the story of Chris's Boyhood as a sort of ing myth how an American boy grows up to become a singularly effective Soldier it's a family story that starts with Chris's father teaching him to hunt and discovering the boy's natural gift for Marksmanship Chris is a sort of Mozart of the rifle but it takes a particular and peculiar Confluence of circumstances for him to Marshall his talent for something more than sport from the earliest age Chris is cast in the role of protector he defends his younger brother Jeff from a bully in the schoolyard and Chris's father sets up the scenario in a dinner table anecdote that plays out like country Plato saying that there are three kinds of people wolves predators sheep victims and sheep dogs protecting sheep against wolves the metaphor Finds Its echo in Plato's Republic in which Socrates explicitly liken society's Guardians with their penchant both for ferocity and for patriotism to dogs in Plato's dialogue the Guardians are put through a rigorous philosophical training not least on the assumption that they will also be the rulers of of an ideally just Society Chris doesn't have a philosophical training he has Christian faith a sense of family and above all a fund of life experience albeit one that arises from a very particular tradition there's a moment early in the film in which Eastwood cues in a glance the impending tragedy a very brief shot of Chris seen through a doorway heading to rodeo grounds which borrows from the final shot of John Ford's the Searchers it's just a touch but it's a brilliant one Eastward marks Chris from the start with his coming isolation even in the young man's easy days of sporting Adventure his character Bears the seed of the awesome price that he'll pay for his distinction but it's a distinction that arises from the enduring Spirit of the western translated into modernity for better and worse but he is not a director of an overly analytical or intellectualizing bent and this turns out to be one of this movies great strengths it has nothing to say about whether the war in Iraq was a good or bad idea simply is and Kyle is an actor in it and he's also a devoted husband and father but Kyle is more than just an actor in the war he's a True Believer in what he's doing and his intensity in this respect bleeds into his relationships back at home in ways that can't help but be unsettling when a fellow Soldier is killed in a raid Kyle returns to the US to attend the funeral at the gravide a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home home Chris a to te that what killed his friend was that letter tea doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of tea well played by Sienna Miller this and her Turnin foxcatcher represent a release from movie jail for the actress could have been another stock complaining military wife in other hands in this film she's more complex she clearly knows that the qualities she admires sloves in Kyle his rigid loyalty and sharp Focus his determination to see his commit ments through are inextricable from his identity as a military operative but even a warrior as devoted as Kyle can't escape being messed with by his mission as the film continues and the sniper rep grows more fearsome the nature of his accomplishments gets Messier and Messier and by the time the sniper has completed his tour the viewer has good reason to be a little or more than a little frightened by the guy but tea is not this puts the whole story on an oddly suspended note that as it happens is resolved by a real life ending that's not very Hollywood here is a one- sentence review of American Sniper the Marshall virtues are so precious rare and fragile that they should be sent into combat only with the greatest caution Clint Eastwood's new film is political in the highest sense of the word he dramatizes the use and abuse of state power in the light of great philosophical ideas these ideas illuminate the drama not as if from afar but from within they aren't imposed on the drama but arise spontaneously from Eastwood's contemplation of people and events and they find Echoes throughout his career the Latter-Day cowboy has no Frontier and no range Chris comes to realize that for all his aptitude he's a cardboard Cowboy living his life for show for a kind of Showbiz that's low in substance Chris's sense of self is undermined by his girlfriend's infidelity a key moment that binds his sense of purpose with his sense of masculinity and his inched sense of higher purpose is aroused by the 1998 attack ta against American embassies in Nairobi and dar e salum for Chris America isn't just a Homeland and a sense of self it's an idea and Eastwood dramatizes the mounting nightmare of a man of unique talent who is increasingly possessed by that idea American Sniper is the story of a genius in crisis it's a movie like eastwoods bird in which Charlie Parker's singular Talent comes with a self-destructive streak Chris undergos a singularly demanding training to become a seal its phys physically severe and emotionally brutal and Chris submits to it unquestioningly and endures its rigors triumphantly until he gets to the shooting range there his genius Rises to the surface in a scene that has explicitly to do with vision he dares to contradict his Marksmanship instructor's order and proves that he sees more and better than his instructor does for Eastwood the military makes a man which war then destroys but Eastwood doesn't fill the movie with the details of practical politics he sets up Chris is fighting with a mighty intensely focused abstraction the lies behind the rush to war are never explored explicitly nor is the war in Afghanistan or any debate regarding America's General strategies against Al-Qaeda there's no reference to the torture of Iraqis at Abu jih to debates over the Iraq war or to any explicit policy discussions at all yet the movie doesn't convey a sense of a whitewash rather Eastwood reduces Chris's situation to its most Elemental and shows that even under optimal circumstances with completely dedicated and professional fighting forces operating under political premises that they believe in even if the Iraq War were to pass moral muster as a just war and political muster as a necessary one it would be equally destructive to the soldiers who wage it and the fact that this war doesn't pass either test is for Eastwood a political damnation of the very first order for Chris it feels great to shoot and terrible to kill great to protect one's own and awful to do what's needed to protect one's own his quickly mounting count of confirmed kills gets him nicknamed The Legend and he hates it because he knows that he's being acclaimed for doing something that he knows to be both holy and sinful too sacred for desecration and vulgar slogans and too horrific to be celebrated from the very start of Eastwood's directorial career Play Misty For Me the conflict between Public Image and private identity is a morally decisive fault line and the demagogue who doesn't just have an incidental Public Image but but takes pride in it and seeks to derive Advantage from it is a singular villain a Bible carrier more than a Bible reader Chris senses that he's defending the Faith by violating its fundamental tenants and that he's being celebrated for the worst part of his service and even more that the celebration of Warriors reveals the ignorance of the unbearable truth of battle even as he becomes one of American society's Heroes Chris becomes in his own mind a pariah unfit for Society at the same time the tormented Chris returning home between tours of Duty deems Society unfit for the likes of him the very Comforts and Pleasures to which a family man aspires now strike him as unseemly the obliviousness of a society that enjoys those Pleasures while its most Valiant members are fighting a horrific War far away strikes him as a desecration of the sacrifices of those fighters in the name of their Valor War itself becomes a sort of white whale a goal pursued furiously and monom maniacally for its own sake without regard to purpose or consequence Chris is both fiercely protective of his comrades in arms and Furious at what he sees as evil he sees his mission as both necessary and just and that very fact renders it all the more painful he personally doesn't have doubts about his mission even though he finds others including his brother Jeff also serving in Iraq who do that sense of righteousness drives Chris deeper into division against himself the more certain he may be of the justice of his fight the more ardently he takes the fight to the enemy despite his Keen sense of pain at dealing death and his Keen awareness that the more aggressively he pursues his mission and defends his colleagues the greater will be the sacrifice demanded of them the greater the likelihood that they'll be wounded or killed eastw greatly admires even reveres the warrior even as he hates War not on principle not because it's intrinsically wrong but because it's intrinsically destructive to Warriors to American warriors he comes off as righteously angry at politicians who sent Chris into Iraq not least for feeding him a false story about the national interest which Chris swallows completely and which ratchets up his Furious sense of protecting the American Homeland from threats originating in Iraq Eastwood depicts commanding officers who are out of touch with events on the ground one is fixated on the use of contractors another is leading the counterinsurgency by the book and another calls Chris onto the carpet for shooting an insurgent and has a Sly contempt for international institutions as well as seen in sever snide sidebars regarding a place in the Olympics for the Insurgent deadliest sniper Bradley Cooper who saw this project passed from Steven Spielberg to Eastwood is understatedly conflicted as Kyle whom we first meet on a fager rooftop a woman and child in his rifle sights spiraling back to the young marksman's first kill on a hunting trip we learned that hesitation is a weakness and here Kyle's dad explained that there are only three types of people sheep wolves and sheep dogs yet yet after the nin1 attacks Kyle seems more coyote than collie his family life collapsing as War takes its toll only at peace when his Killer Instinct is in play he may have a loving wife the lately impressive Sienna Miller at home but it's gunfire that puts lead in his pencil what heavy breathing there is here comes from pre-trigger exhalation shots fired between heartbeats after lengthy voyerism of lethal ecstasy later a wounded veteran talks of getting his balls back on the pumping end of a rifle butt Eastwood plays all this with a poker face and some viewers have taken it at face value with polarizing results perhaps like Flags of Our Fathers which Eastwood paired with letters from Iowa gima American Sniper needs a more didactic balancing element Spielberg wanted to expand the role of the Iraqi sniper who becomes Kyle's Nemesis but Eastwood has stripped things back so that we observe the action through aim on the occasion of the John huson retrospective at Film Society of Lincoln Center I Revisited his documentary let there be light about Second World War veterans all young men who were suffering from mental illness as a result of their combat experience the most moving element for me in Huston's film is one patients account of a visit from an acquaintance he says before I come out here to see you my first impression was like in Bell you the fellows from the last war that are completely Maniacs the shocking remark twists the proverb that generals are always prepared to fight the last war each War results and disorders of which the next war is a symptom each War loses a generation one Aras Maniac is in Huston's time suffering from a psychon neurotic disorder now returning veterans are diagnosed with PTSD for Eastwood they're all enduring the same ailment War as hell and those who are in a position to send soldiers into war had better understand that diagnosis Eastwood includes in the cast of American Sniper soldiers who have been grievously wounded in combat soldiers who have lost limbs whose surviving limbs have been mutilated soldiers in wheelchairs who perform alongside the movie star Bradley Cooper it's casting akin to that of Harold Russell a second world war veteran Who Lost His Hands in combat and was fitted with prosthetic hands in William Wilder's 1946 Masterwork the best years of our lives there Russell who had never acted in a movie is one of the three stars alongside Dana Andrews and Frederick March in the course of that drama it's not Russell's character but the former fighter pilot played by Andrews who is most conspicuously suffering from the emotional traumas of combat Yet the movie that American Sniper most brought to mind was the 24 documentary oh Uomo by the Italian filmmakers yant janikian and Angela Ricky lukai they present archival footage of the first world war including images of veterans who were disfigured in combat the movie includes Battlefield footage and images of survivors military and civilian as well as the pror Rumblings of the second world war and fascist Italy's war in Ethiopia in the mid 1930s the documentarians draw a line from one derangement to another and so does Eastwood the wreckage of another generation in the last decade of warfare May well be not chastening but maddening May terrifyingly bear the seeds of more self-destructive violence odd family country after the awkward dis rythmia of Jersey Boys a musical with a tin ear for its Tunes Clint Eastwood is back in the saddle with this Bleak Western inflected Thriller adapted from the autobiography of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL nicknamed The Legend really who racked up more than 160 confirmed kills as a marksman in Iraq American Sniper finds Eastwood returning once again to Unforgiven thorny themes of guns and retribution intensely cinematic fashion that the title taken from the book should ironically Echo Brett Easton Ellis's satirically vitriolic portrait of male psychosis is appropriate the film allowing its audience to view Kyle as either hero or villain or both rickan eyes only our Focus as blinkered as that of its titular killer as such it makes for disturbing viewing the understandably clumsy closing Koda necessitated by events in 2013 forcing the film finally towards flag waving endorsement in the face of unfolding tragedy at home American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical War drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive produced by Jason Hall based on the Memoir American Sniper the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in US military history 2012 by Chris Kyle with Scott mccuan and Jim defis the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense five while Kyle was celebrated for his military successes his tours of Duty took a heavy toll on his personal and family life it stars Bradley Cooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife tea with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Corey Hardrick Kevin LAX Navid Negan and car o' Donnell in supporting roles at the 87th Academy Awards American Sniper received six nominations including best picture best adapted screenplay and best actor for Cooper ultimately winning one for best sound editing growing up in Texas Chris Kyle is taught by his father how to shoot a rifle hunt deer years later Chris has become a ranch hand and Rodeo Cowboy and returns home early to find his girlfriend in bed with another man after telling her to leave he is mulling it over with his brother when he sees news coverage of the 1998 s Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with US Navy Seals American Sniper premiered at the American Film Institute Festival on November 11th 2014 and had a limited the theatrical release in the United States on December 25th 2014 followed by a wide release on January 16th 2015 it received mostly positive reviews with praise for Cooper's lead performance and Eastwood's Direction although it also attracted some controversy over its portrayal of both the Iraq War and Kyle himself the film grossed over $547 million worldwide making it the 13th highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing film with a wide release during the month of January and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date Chris meets tea studabaker at an Irish pub in San Diego and the two soon marry he is sent to Iraq after the September 11th attacks his first kills are a woman and boy who attacked US Marines on patrol with a russian-made rkg-3 anti-tank grenade Chris is visibly upset by the experience but later earns the nickname legend for his many kills guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour Ana tells him she may not be there when he returns back in Iraq Chris is shocked to learn bigles died in surgery to repair the wounds he sustained assigned to kill Mustafa who has been sniping US Army combat engineers building a barricade Chris's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory Chris spots Mustafa and takes him out with a risky longdistance shot at 2100 yards 920m but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls tea and tells her he is ready to come home a sandstorm provides concealment for a chaotic Escape in which he is injured and almost Left Behind after Chris gets back State Side on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life he is asked by a veteran affairs psychiatrist if he is haunted by all the things he did in war when he replies it is all the guys he couldn't save that haunt him the psychiatrist encourages him to help severely wounded veterans in the VA hospital after that Chris gradually begins to adjust to home life years later on February 2nd 2013 Chris says goodbye to his wife and family as he leaves in good spirits to spend time with Eddie Ray ralth a veteran suffering from PTSD at a shooting range an on-screen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by Ralph followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession Mora shown attending his memorial service directed by Clint Eastwood in what some may take as alarmingly short order following Jersey Boys which was released only 6 months ago For Heaven's Sake American Sniper proves the dicum never count an aour out by proving itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated Invictus pretty much right out of the starting gate opening with a brutally suspenseful moment of decision for its titular character Chris Kyle the movie establishes all all of the things it's going to be about and the things it's not going to be about with plain but almost breathtaking Assurance assigned to hunt for the alqa leader Abu musab alzarka Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the seals to the butcher alzarka is second in command the plan goes arry when the butcher captures the father and his son killing them while Chris is pinned down by a sniper this sniper goes by the name Mustafa and is an Olympic Games medalist from Syria meanwhile the insurgents issue a bounty on Chris Chris returns home to his wife and the birth of his son he is distracted by memories of his War experiences and by Tea's concern for them as a couple she wishes he would focus on his home and family Chris leaves for a second tour and is promoted to chief petty officer involved in a shootout with a butcher he helps in killing him when he returns home to a newborn daughter Chris becomes increasingly distant from his family on Chris's third tour must Stafa seriously injures a unit member Ryan bigle job and the unit is evacuated back to base when they decide to return to the field and continue the mission another seal Mark Lee is killed by gunfire sniper is based on a true story that got more complicated after Kyle himself told it in the book that gives the film its title adapted from that book by actor turn screenwriter Jason Dean Hall The Story begins after its Ira set prologue showing Kyle is first a boy and and then a young man a schoolyard bullying incident compels Kyle's father Ben Reed to give a scary dinner table fire and brimstone speech to Chris and younger brother Jeff about showing would be tough guys whose boss we protect our own the weight of expectation seems to jam the two boys down and in a Flash forward to the boys as young men they're leading the aimless lives of wannabe Rodeo stars that all changes when Chris decides to apply to join the special forces the film depicts him doing so after seeing TV coverage of the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya as he's developing a new sense of purpose while training he also meets future wife TAA sien Miller post n11 the war in Iraq puts Kyle to work as a sharpshooter and the film depicts his skills in this area as almost Eerie they were so in real life too as it happens Kyle racked up 160 confirmed kills making him the deadliest such operative in US Navy history eastwoods handling of various battle scenarios including those in which Kyle is compelled to take down women and children is typically anti- elaborate for the director Grim purposeful compelling violence and its relation to both American history and the American character is one of Eastwood's great themes as both a filmmaker and a film actor American Sniper is a movie of violent action but its action is surrounded by a terrible Stillness its story of War contains Valor and horror the destructive and self-destructive conflicts that are in intrinsic to a person endowed With A Warrior's Noble nature as such it's a cinematic tragedy in the deepest and most classical sense of the term Eastwood considers recent events with a fierce anger even as he considers the universal span of human experience with an Olympian roflness alongside the Angelic figure at the center of Richard linklater's Boyhood whose Texas youth is unshadowed by wild impulses or unruly thoughts there's another Texan whose altogether more complex and troubl tale is told by Eastwood in American Sniper which could as aptly be called manhood Eastwood's movie is centered on the true story of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL whose lethal Marksmanship put to action in the Iraq War was unprecedented the movie is based on Kyle's 2012 Memoir Nicholas Schmid wrote about Kyle in the magazine last year for the sake of clarity I'll call Eastwood's character Chris American Sniper starts with military action with Chris stretched out on a roof in fola gazing at the streets through a rifle sight at a young boy preparing to launch an explosive device handed to him by a woman presumably his mother against an approaching Marine Convoy but when the movie cuts to a flashback to Chris's childhood hunting lesson with his father during which he shoots a deer it turns into a truncated and telescoped cinematic building Roman telling the story of Chris's Boyhood as a sort of founding myth how an American boy grows up to become a singularly effective Soldier it's a family story that starts with Chris's father teaching him to hunt and discovering the boy's natural gift for Marksmanship Chris is a sort of Mozart of the rifle but it takes a particular and peculiar Confluence of circumstances for him to Marshall his talent for something more than sport from the earliest age Chris is cast in the role of protector he defends his younger brother Jeff from a bully in the schoolyard and Chris's father sets up the scenario in a dinner table anecdote that plays out like country Plato saying that there are three kinds of people wolves Predators sheep victims and sheep dogs protecting sheep against wolves the metaphor Finds Its echo in Plato's Republic in which Socrates explicitly liken societies Guardians with their pensant both for ferocity and for patriotism to dogs in Plato's dialogue the Guardians are put through a rigorous philosophical training not least on the assumption that they will also be the rulers of an ideally just Society Chris doesn't have a philosophical training he has Christian faith a sense of family and above all a fund of life experience albeit one that arises from a very particular tradition there's a moment early in the film in which Eastwood cues in a glance the impending tragedy a very brief shot of Chris seen through a doorway heading to rodeo grounds which borrows from the final shot of John Ford's The Searchers it's just a touch but it's a brilliant one Eastwood marks Chris from the start with his coming isolation even in the young man's easy days of sporting Adventure his character Bears the seed of the awesome price that he'll pay for his distinction but it's a distinction that arises from the enduring Spirit of the western translated into modernity for better and worse but he is not a director of an overly analytical or intellectualizing bent and this turns out to be one of this movie's great strengths it has nothing to say about whether the war in Iraq was a good or bad idea it simply is and Kyle is an actor in it and he's also a devoted husband and father but Kyle is more than just an actor in the war he's a True Believer in what he's doing and his intensity in this respect bleeds into his relationships back at home in ways that can't help but be unsettling when a fellow Soldier is killed in a raid Kyle returns to the US to attend the funeral at the gravide a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home Chris AV to tea that what killed his friend was that letter tea doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of tea well played by Sienna Miller this and her Turnin foxcatcher represent a release from movie jail for the actress could have been another stock complaining military wife in other hands in this film she's more complex she clearly knows that the qualities she admires loves in Kyle his rigid loyalty and sharp Focus his determination to see his commitments through are inextricable from his identity as a military operative but even a warrior as devoted as Kyle ctis Escape being messed with by his mission as the film continues and the sniper rep grows more fearsome the nature of his accomplishments gets Messier and Messier and by the time the sniper has completed his tour the viewer has good reason to be a little or more than a little frightened by the guy but TAA is not this puts the whole story on an oddly suspended note that as it happens is resolved by a real life ending that's not very Hollywood here is a one- sentence review of American Sniper the Marshall virtues are so precious rare and fragile that they should be sent into combat only with the greatest caution Clint Eastwood's new film is political in the highest sense of the word he dramatizes the use and abuse of state power in the light of great philosophical ideas these ideas illuminate the drama not as if from afar but from within they aren't imposed on the drama but arise spontaneously from Eastwood's contemplation of people and events and they find Echoes throughout his career the latter day cowboy has no Frontier and no range Chris comes to realize that for all his aptitude he's a cardboard Cowboy living his life for show for a kind of show biz that's low in substance Chris's sense of self is undermined by his girlfriend's infidelity a key moment that binds his sense of purpose with his sense of masculinity and his inched sense of higher purpose is aroused by the 1998 attacks against American embassies in Nairobi and dar salum for Chris America isn't just a Homeland and a sense of self it's an idea and Eastwood dramatizes the mounting nightmare of a man of unique talent who is increasingly possessed by that idea American Sniper is the story of a genius in crisis it's a movie like eastwoods bird in which Charlie Parker's singular Talent comes with a self-destructive streak Chris under goes a singularly demanding training to become a seal it's physically severe and emotionally brutal and Chris submits to it unquestioningly and endures its rigors triumphantly until he gets to the shooting range there his genius Rises to the surface in a scene that has explicitly to do with vision he dares to contradict his Marksmanship instructor's order and proves that he sees more and better than his instructor does for Eastwood the military makes a man which war then destroys but Eastwood doesn't fill the movie with the details of practical politics he sets up Chris's fighting with a mighty intensely focused abstraction the lies behind the rush to war are never explored explicitly nor is the war in Afghanistan or any debate regarding America's General strategies against Al-Qaeda there's no reference to the torture of Iraqis at Abu jihra to debates over the Iraq war or to any explicit policy discussions at all yet the movie doesn't convey a sense of a whitewash rather Eastwood reduces Chris's situation to its most Elemental and shows that even under optimal circumstances with completely dedicated and professional fighting forces operating under political premises that they believe in even if the Iraq War were to pass moral muster as a just war and political muster as a necessary one it would be equally destructive to the soldiers who wage it and the fact that this war doesn't pass either test is for Eastwood a political damnation of the very first order for Chris it feels great to shoot and terrible to kill great to protect one's own and awful to do what's needed to protect one's own his quickly mounting count of confirmed kills gets him nicknamed The Legend and he hates it because he knows that he's being acclaimed for doing something that he knows to be both holy and sinful too sacred for desecration and vulgar slogans and too horrific to be celebrated from the very start of Eastwood's directorial career Play Misty For Me the conflict between Public Image and private identity is a morally decisive fault line and the demagogue who doesn't just have an incidental Public Image but takes pride in it and seeks to derive Advantage from it is a singular villain a Bible carrier more than a Bible reader Chris senses that he's defending the Faith by violating its fundamental tenants and that he's being celebrated for the worst part of his service and even more that the celebration of Warriors reveals the ignorance of the unbearable truth of battle even as he becomes one of American society's Heroes Chris becomes in his own mind a pariah unfit for Society at the same time the tormented Chris returning home between tours of Duty deems Society unfit for the likes of him the very Comforts and Pleasures to which a family man aspires now strike him as unseemly the obliviousness of a society that enjoys those Pleasures while its most Valiant members are fighting a horrific War far away strikes him as a desecration of the sacrifices of those fighters in the name of their Valor War itself becomes a sort of white whale a goal pursued furiously and monom maniacally for its own sake without regard to purpose or consequence Chris is both fiercely protective of his comrades in arms and Furious at what he sees as evil he sees his mission as both necessary and just and that very fact renders it all the more painful he personally doesn't have doubts about his mission even though he finds others including his brother Jeff also serving in Iraq who do that sense of righteousness drives Chris deeper into division against himself the more certain he may be of the justice of his fight the more ardently he takes the fight to the enemy despite his Keen sense of pain at dealing death and his Keen awareness that the more aggressively he pursues his and defends his colleagues the greater will be the sacrifice demanded of them the greater the likelihood that they'll be wounded or killed Eastwood greatly admires even reveres the warrior even as he hates War not on principle not because it's intrinsically wrong but because it's intrinsically destructive to Warriors to American warriors he comes off as righteously angry at politicians who sent Chris into Iraq not least for feeding him a false story about the national interest which Chris swallows completely and which ratchets up his Furious sense of protecting the American Homeland from threats originating in Iraq Eastwood depicts commanding officers who are out of touch with events on the ground one is fixated on the use of contractors another is leading the counterinsurgency by the book and another calls Chris onto the carpet for shooting an insurgent and has a Sly contempt for international institutions as well as seen in several snide sidebars regarding a place in the Olympics for the Insurgent deadliest sniper Bradley Cooper who saw this project passed from Steven Spielberg to Eastwood is understatedly conflicted as Kyle whom we first meet on a fager rooftop a woman and child in his rifle sights spiraling back to the young marksman's first kill on a hunting trip we learned that hesitation is a weakness and here Kyle's dad explained that there are only three types of people sheep wolves and sheep dogs yet after the N1 attacks Kyle seems more coyote than collie his family life collapsing as War takes its toll only at peace when his Killer Instinct is in play he may have a loving wife the lately impressive Sienna Miller at home but it's gunfire that puts lead in his pencil what heavy breathing there is here comes from pre-trigger exhalation shots fired between heartbeats after lengthy voyerism of lethal ecstasy later a wounded veteran talks of getting his balls back on the pumping end of a rifle butt Eastwood plays all this with a poker face and some viewers have taken it at face value with polarized ing results perhaps like Flags of Our Fathers which Eastwood paired with letters from Iowa gima American Sniper needs a more didactic balancing element Spielberg wanted to expand the role of the Iraqi sniper who becomes Kyle's Nemesis but Eastwood has stripped things back so that we observe the action through aim on the occasion of the John hustin retrospective at Film Society of Lincoln Center I Revisited his documentary let there be light about Second World War veterans all young men who were suffering from mental illness as a result of their combat experience the most moving element for me in Huston's film is one patient account of a visit from an acquaintance he says before I come out here to see you my first impression was like in bellie the fellows from the last war that are completely Maniacs the shocking remark twists the proverb that generals are always prepared to fight the last war each War results in disorders of which the next war is a symptom each War loses a generation one AAS Maniac is in 's time suffering from a psychon neurotic disorder now returning veterans are diagnosed with PTSD for Eastwood they're all enduring the same ailment War as hell and those who are in a position to send soldiers into war had better understand that diagnosis Eastwood includes in the cast of American Sniper soldiers who have been grievously wounded in combat soldiers who have lost limbs whose surviving limbs have been mutilated soldiers in wheelchairs who perform alongside the movie star Bradley Cooper its casting akin to that of Harold Russell a second world war veteran Who Lost His Hands in combat and was fitted with prosthetic hands in William wier's 1946 Masterwork the best years of our lives there Russell who had never acted in a movie is one of the three stars alongside Dana Andrews and Frederick March in the course of that drama it's not Russell's character but the former fighter pilot played by Andrews who is most conspicuously suffering from the emotional traumas of combat Yet the movie that American Sniper most brought to mind was the 24 documentary oh yuo by the Italian filmmakers yant janikian and Angela Ricky lukai they present archival footage of the first world war including images of veterans who were disfigured in combat the movie includes Battlefield footage and images of survivors military and civilian as well as the primordial Rumblings of the second world war and fascist Italy's war in Ethiopia in the mid1 1930s the documentarian draw a line from one derangement to another and so does Eastwood the wreckage of another generation in the last decade of warfare May well be not chastening but maddening May terrifyingly bear the seeds of more self-destructive violence odd family country after the awkward drimia of Jersey Boys a musical with a tin ear for its Tunes Clint Eastwood is back in the saddle with this Bleak Western inflected Thriller adapted from the autobiography of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL nicknamed The Legend really who racked up more than 160 confirmed kills as a marksman in Iraq American Sniper finds Eastwood returning once again to Unforgiven thorny themes of guns and retribution intensely cinematic fashion that the title taken from the book should ironically Echo Brett Easton Ellis's satirically vitriolic portrait of male psychosis is appropriate the film allowing its audience to view Kyle as either hero or villain or both rickan eyes only our Focus as blinkered as that of its titular killer as such it makes for disturbing viewing the understandably clumsy closing Koda necessitated by events in 2013 forcing the film finally towards flag waving endorsement in the face of unfolding tragedy at home American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical War drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive produced by Jason Hall based on the Memoir American Sniper the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in US military history 2012 by Chris Kyle with Scott mccuan and Jim defis the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense five while Kyle was celebrated for his military successes his tours of Duty took a heavy toll on his personal and family life it stars Bradley Cooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife tea with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Cory Hardrick Kevin LAX naid Negan and Caro Donnell in supporting roles at the 87th Academy Awards American Sniper received six nominations including best picture best adapted screenplay and best actor for Cooper ultimately winning one for best sound editing growing up in Texas Chris Kyle is taught by his father how to shoot a rifle and hunt deer years later Chris has become a ranch hand and Rodeo Cowboy and returns home early to find his girl friend in bed with another man after telling her to leave he is mulling it over with his brother when he sees news coverage of the 1998 s Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with US Navy Seals American Sniper premiered at the American Film Institute Festival on November 11th 2014 and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25th 2014 followed by a wide release on January 16th 2015 it received mostly positive reviews with praise for Cooper's lead performance and eastwoods Direction although it also attracted some controversy over its portrayal of both the Iraq War and Kyle himself the film grossed over $547 million worldwide making it the 13th highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing film with a wide release during the month of January and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date Chris meets tea studabaker at an Irish Pub in San Diego and the two soon marry he is sent to Iraq after the September 11th attacks his first kills are a woman and boy who attacked US Marines on patrol with a russian-made rkg 3 anti-tank grenade Chris is visibly upset by the experience but later earns the nickname legend for his many kills guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour and TAA tells him she may not be there when he returns back in Iraq Chris is shocked to learn bigles died in surgery to repair the wounds he sustained assigned to kill Mustafa who has been sniping US Army combat engineers building a barricade Chris's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory Chris spots Mustafa and takes him out with a risky longdistance shot at 2100 yard 920m but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls tea and tells her he is ready to come home a sandstorm provides concealment for a chaotic Escape in which he is injured and almost Left Behind after Chris gets back State Side on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life he is asked by a veteran affairs psychiatrist if he is haunted by all the things he did in war when he replies it is all the guys he couldn't save that haunt him the psychiatrist encourages him to help severely wounded veterans in the VA hospital after that Chris gradually begins to adjust to home life years later on February 2nd 2013 Chris says goodbye to his wife and family as he leaves in good spirits to spend time with Eddie Ray ralth a veteran suffering from PTSD at a shooting range an on-screen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by Ralph followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession more are shown attending his memorial service directed by Clint Eastwood and what some may take as alarmingly short order following Jersey boys which was released only 6 months ago For Heaven's Sake American Sniper proves the dicum never count an aour out by proving itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated Invictus pretty much right out of the starting gate opening with a brutally suspenseful moment of decision for its titular character Chris Kyle the movie establishes all of the things it's going to be about and the things it's not going to be about with plain but almost breathtaking Assurance a sign to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu musab alzarka Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the seals to the butcher Al Zara is second in command the plan goes arry when the butcher captures the father and his son killing them while Chris is pinned down by a sniper this sniper goes by the name Mustafa and is an Olympic Games medalist from Syria meanwhile the insurgents issue a bounty on Chris Chris returns home to his wife and the birth of his son he is distracted attracted by memories of his War experiences and by Tea's concern for them as a couple she wishes he would focus on his home and family Chris leaves for a second tour and is promoted to chief petty officer involved in a shootout with the butcher he helps in killing him when he returns home to a newborn daughter Chris becomes increasingly distant from his family on Chris's third tour Mustafa seriously injures a unit member Ryan bigle job and the unit is evacuated back to base when they decide to return to the field and continue the mission another seal Mark Lee is killed by gunfire sniper is based on a true story that got more complicated after Kyle himself told it in the book that gives the film its title adapted from that book by actor turn screenwriter Jason Dean Hall The Story begins after its Iraq set prologue showing Kyle is first a boy and then a young man a schoolyard bullying incident compels Kyle's father Ben Reed to give a scary dinner table fire and grimstone speech to Chris and younger brother Jeff about showing would be tough guys whose boss we protect our own the weight of expectation seems to jam the two boys down and in a Flash forward to the boys as young men they're leading the aimless lives of wannabe Rodeo stars that all changes when Chris decides to apply to join the special forces the film depicts him doing so after seeing TV coverage of the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya as he's developing a new sense of purpose while training he also meets future wife TAA Sienna Miller post n11 the war in Iraq puts Kyle to work as a sharpshooter and the film depicts his skills in this area as almost Eerie they were so in real life too as it happens Kyle racked up60 confirmed kills making him the deadliest such operative in US Navy history Eastwood's handling of various battle scenarios including those in which Kyle is compelled to take down women and children is typically anti- elaborate for the director Grim purposeful compelling violence and its relation to both American history and the American character is one of Eastwood's great themes as both a filmmaker and a film actor American Sniper is a movie of violent action but its action is surrounded by a terrible Stillness its story of War contains Valor and horror the destructive and self-destructive conflicts that are intrinsic to a person endowed With A Warrior's Noble nature as such it's a cinematic tragedy in the deepest and most classical sense of the term Eastwood considers recent events with a fierce anger even as he considers the universal span of human experience with an Olympian roflness alongside the Angelic figure at the center of Richard linklater's Boyhood whose Texas youth is unshadowed by wild impulses or unruly thoughts there's another Texan whose altogether more complex and troubl tale is told by Eastwood in American Sniper which could as aptly be called manhood Eastwood's movie is centered on the true story of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL whose lethal Marksmanship put to action in the Iraq War was unprecedented the movie is based on Kyle's 2012 Memoir Nicholas schmidle wrote about Kyle in the magazine last year for the sake of clarity I'll call eastwoods character Chris American Sniper starts with military action with Chris stretched out on a roof in fja gazing at the streets threw a rifle sight at a young boy preparing to launch an explosive device handed to him by a woman presuming his mother against an approaching Marine Convoy but when the movie cuts to a flashback to Chris's childhood hunting lesson with his father during which he shoots a deer it turns into a truncated and telescoped cinematic building Stroman telling the story of Chris's Boyhood as a sort of founding myth how an American boy grows up to become a singularly effective Soldier it's a family story that starts with Chris's father teaching him to hunt and discovering the boy's natural gift for Marksmanship Chris is a sort of Mozart of the rifle but it takes a particular and peculiar Confluence of circumstances for him to Marshall his talent for something more than sport from the earliest age Chris is cast in the role of protector he defends his younger brother Jeff from a bully in the schoolyard and Chris's father sets up the scenario in a dinner table anecdote that plays out like country Plato saying that there are three kinds of people wolves predators sheep victims and sheep dogs protecting sheep against wolves the metaphor Finds Its echo in Plato's Republic in which Socrates explicitly liken societies Guardians with their pensent both for ferocity and for patriotism to dogs in Plato's dialogue the Guardians are put through a rigorous philosophical training not least on the assumption that they will also be the rulers of an ideally just Society Chris doesn't have a philosophical training he has Christian faith a sense of family and above all a fund of life experience albeit one that arises from a very particular tradition there's a moment early in the film in which Eastwood cues in a glance the impending tragedy a very brief shot of Chris seen through a doorway heading to rodeo grounds which borrows from the final shot of John Ford's The Searchers it's just a touch but it's a brilliant one Eastwood marks Chris from the start with his coming isolation even in the young man's easy days of sporting Adventure his character Bears the seed of the awesome price that he'll pay for his distinction but it's a distinction that arises from the enduring Spirit of the Western translated into modernity for better and worse but he is not a director of an overly analytical or intellectualizing bent and this turns out to be one of this movie's great strengths it has nothing to say about whether the war in Iraq was a good or bad idea it simply is and Kyle is an actor in it and he's also a devoted husband and father but Kyle is more than just an actor in the war he's a True Believer in what he's doing and his intensity in this respect bleeds into his relationships back at at home in ways that can't help but be unsettling when a fellow Soldier is killed in a raid Kyle returns to the US to attend the funeral at the gravide a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home Chris a to tea that what killed his friend was that letter tea doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of tea well played by Sienna Miller this and her Turnin Fox Scout represent a release from movie jail for the actress could have been another stock complaining military wife in other hands in this film she's more complex she clearly knows that the qualities she admires loves in Kyle his rigid loyalty and sharp Focus his determination to see his commitments through are inextricable from his identity as a military operative but even a warrior as devoted as Kyle can't escape being messed with by his mission as the film continues and the sniper rep grows more fearsome the nature of accomplishments gets Messier and Messier and by the time the sniper has completed his tour the viewer has good reason to be a little or more than a little frightened by the guy but TAA is not this puts the whole story on an oddly suspended note that as it happens is resolved by a real life ending that's not very Hollywood here is a one- sentence review of American Sniper the Marshall virtues are so precious rare and fragile that they should be sent into combat only with the greatest caution Clint Eastwood's new film is political in the highest sense of the word he dramatizes the use and abuse of state power in the light of great philosophical ideas these ideas illuminate the drama not as if from afar but from within they aren't imposed on the drama but arise spontaneously from Eastwood's contemplation of people and events and they find Echoes throughout his career the Latter-Day cowboy has no Frontier and no range Chris comes to realize that for all his aptitude he's a cardboard Cowboy living his life for show for a kind of show biz that's low in substance Chris's sense of self is undermined by his girlfriend's infidelity a key moment that binds his sense of purpose with his sense of masculinity and his inched sense of higher purpose is aroused by the 1998 attacks against American embassies in Nairobi and dar e Salem for Chris America isn't just a Homeland and a sense of self it's an idea and Eastwood dramatizes the mounting nightmare of a man of unique talent who is increasingly possessed by that idea American Sniper is the story of a genius in crisis it's a movie like eastwoods bird in which Charlie Parker's singular Talent comes with a self-destructive streak Chris undergos a singularly demanding training to become a seal it's physically severe and emotionally brutal and Chris submits to it unquestioningly and endures its rigors triumphantly until he gets to the shooting range there his genius Rises to the surface in a scene that has explicitly to do with vision he dares dares to contradict his Marksmanship instructor's order and proves that he sees more and better than his instructor does for Eastwood the military makes a man which war then destroys but Eastwood doesn't fill the movie with the details of practical politics he sets up Chris's fighting with a mighty intensely focused abstraction the lies behind the rush to war are never explored explicitly nor is the war in Afghanistan or any debate regarding America's General strategies against Al-Qaeda there's no reference to the torture of Iraqis at Abu jihra to debates over the Iraq war or to any explicit policy discussions at all yet the movie doesn't convey a sense of a whitewash rather Eastwood reduces Chris's situation to its most Elemental and shows that even under optimal circumstances with completely dedicated and professional fighting forces operating under political premises that they believe in even if the Iraq War were to pass moral muster as a just war and political muster as a necessary one it would be equally destructive to the soldiers who wage it and the fact that this war doesn't pass either test is for Eastwood a political damnation of the very first order for Chris it feels great to shoot and terrible to kill great to protect one's own and awful to do what's needed to protect one's own his quickly mounting count of confirmed kills gets him nicknamed The Legend and he hates it because he knows that he's being acclaimed for doing something that he knows to be both holy and sinful too sacred for desecration and vulgar slogans and too horrific to be celebrated from the very start of Eastwood's directorial career Play Misty For Me the conflict between Public Image and private identity is a morally decisive fault line and the demagogue who doesn't just have an incidental Public Image but takes pride in it and seeks to derive Advantage from it is a singular villain a Bible carrier more than a Bible reader Chris senses that he's defending the Faith by violating its fundamental tenants and that he's being celebrated for the worst part of his service and even more that the celebration of Warriors reveals the ignorance of the unbearable truth of battle even as he becomes one of American society's Heroes Chris becomes in his own mind a pariah unfit for Society at the same time the tormented Chris returning home between tours of Duty deems Society unfit for the likes of him the very Comforts and Pleasures to which a family man aspires now strike him as unseemly the obliviousness of a society that enjoys those Pleasures while its most Valiant members are fighting a horrific War far away strikes him as a desecration of the sacrifices of those fighters in the name of their Valor War itself becomes a sort of white whale a goal pursued furiously and monom maniacally for its own sake without regard to purpose or consequence Chris is both fiercely protective of his comrades in arms and Furious at what he sees as evil he sees his mission as both necessary and just and that very fact renders it all the more painful he personally doesn't have doubts about his mission even though he finds others including his brother Jeff also serving in Iraq who do that sense of righteousness drives Chris deeper into division against himself the more certain he may be of the justice of his fight the more ardently he takes the fight to the enemy despite his Keen sense of pain at dealing death and his Keen awareness that the more aggressively he pursues his mission and defends his colleagues the greater will be the sacrifice demanded of them the greater the likelihood that they'll be wounded or were killed Eastwood greatly admires even rever the warrior even as he hates War not on principle not because it's intrinsically wrong but because it's intrinsically destructive to Warriors to American warriors he comes off as righteously angry at politicians who sent Chris into Iraq not least for feeding him a false story about the national interest which Chris swallows completely and which ratchets up his Furious sense of protecting the American Homeland from threats originating in Iraq Eastwood depicts commanding officers who are out of touch with events on the ground one is fixated on the use of contractors another is leading the counterinsurgency by the book and another calls Chris onto the carpet for shooting an insurgent and has a Sly contempt for international institutions as well as seen in several snide sidebars regarding a place in the Olympics for the Insurgent deadliest sniper Bradley Cooper who saw this project passed from Steven Spielberg to Eastwood is understatedly conflicted as Kyle whom we first meet on a Fage or rooftop a woman and child in his rifle sights spiraling back to the young marksman's first kill on a hunting trip we learned that hesitation is a weakness and here Kyle's dad explained that there are only three types of people sheep wolves and sheep dogs yet after the nin1 attacks Kyle seems more coyote than collie his family life collapsing as War takes its toll only at peace when his Killer Instinct is in play he may have a loving wife the lately impressive Sienna Miller at home but it's gunfire that puts lead in his pencil what heavy breathing there is here comes from pre-trigger exhalation shots fired between heartbeats after lengthy voyerism of lethal ecstasy later a wounded veteran talks of getting his balls back on the pumping end of a rifle butt Eastwood plays all this with a poker face and some viewers have taken it at face value with polarizing results perhaps like Flags of Our Fathers which Eastwood paired with letters from Iowa gima American Sniper needs a more didactic balancing element Spielberg wanted to expand the role of the Iraqi sniper who becomes Kyle's Nemesis but Eastwood has stripped things back so that we observe the action through aim on the occasion of the John Huston retrospective at Film Society of Lincoln Center I Revisited his documentary let there be light about Second World War veterans all young men who were suffering from mental illness as a result of their combat experience the most moving element for me in hustin film is one patience account of a visit from an acquaintance he says before I come out here to see you my first impression was like in bellie the fellows from the last war that are completely Maniacs the shocking remark twists the proverb that generals are always prepared to fight the last war each War results in disorders of which the next war is a symptom each War loses a generation one AAS Maniac is in Huston's time suffering from a psychon neurotic disorder now returning veterans are diagnosed with PTSD for Eastwood they're all enduring the same ailment War as hell and those who are in a position to send soldiers into war had better understand that diagnosis Eastwood includes in the cast of American Sniper soldiers who have been grievously wounded in combat soldiers who have lost limbs whose surviving limbs have been mutilated soldiers in wheelchairs who perform alongside the movie star Bradley Cooper it's casting akin to that of Harold Russell a second world war veteran Who Lost His Hands in combat and was fit with prosthetic hands in William wier's 1946 Masterwork the best years of our lives there Russell who had never acted in a movie is one of the three stars alongside Dana Andrews and Frederick March in the course of that drama it's not Russell's character but the former fighter pilot played by Andrews who is most conspicuously suffering from the emotional traumas of combat Yet the movie that American Sniper most brought to mind was the 24 documentary oh Uomo by the Italian filmmakers yant janikian and Angela Ricky lukai they present archival footage of the first world war including images of veterans who were disfigured in combat the movie includes Battlefield footage and images of survivors military and civilian as well as the prom morial Rumblings of the second world war and fascist Italy's war in Ethiopia in the mid1 1930s the documentarians draw a line from one derangement to another and so does Eastwood the wreckage of another generation in the last decade of War Fair May well be not chastening but maddening May terrifyingly bear the seeds of more self-destructive violence odd family country after the awkward drimia of Jersey Boys a musical with a tin ear for its Tunes Clint Eastwood is back in the saddle with this Bleak Western inflected Thriller adapted from the autobiography of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL nicknamed The Legend really who racked up more than 160 confirmed kills as a marksman in Iraq American Sniper finds Eastwood return turning once again to Unforgiven thorny themes of guns and retribution intensely cinematic fashion that the title taken from the book should ironically Echo Brett Easton Ellis's satirically vitriolic portrait of male psychosis is appropriate the film allowing its audience to view Kyle as either hero or villain or both roniz only our Focus as blinkered as that of its titular killer as such it makes for disturbing viewing the understandably clumsy closing Koda necessitated by events in 2013 13 forcing the film finally towards flag waving endorsement in the face of unfolding tragedy at home American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical War drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive produced by Jason Hall based on the Memoir American Sniper the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in US military history 2012 by Chris Kyle with Scott mccuan and Jim defis the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 255 kills from four tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense five while Kyle was celebrated for his military successes his tours of Duty took a heavy toll on his personal and family life it stars Bradley Cooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife tea with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Corey Hardrick Kevin LAX naid Negan and Caro Donnell in supporting roles at the 87 Academy Awards American Sniper received six nominations including best picture best adapted screenplay and best actor for Cooper ultimately winning one for best sound editing growing up in Texas Chris Kyle is taught by his father how to shoot a rifle and hunt deer years later Chris has become a ranch hand and Rodeo Cowboy and returns home early to find his girlfriend in bed with another man after telling her to leave he is mulling it over with his brother when he sees news coverage of the 19 1998 s Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with the US Navy Seals American Sniper premiered at the American Film Institute Festival on November 11th 2014 and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25th 2014 followed by a wide release on January 16th 2015 it received mostly positive reviews with praise for Cooper's lead performance and eastwoods direction although it also attracted some controversy over its portrayal of both the Iraq War and Kyle himself the film grossed over $547 million worldwide making it the 13th highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing film with a wide release during the month of January and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date Chris meets tea studabaker at an Irish pub in San Diego and the two soon marry he is sent to Iraq after the September 11th attacks his first kills are a woman and boy who attacked US Marines on patrol with a russian-made rkg 3 anti-tank grenade Chris is visibly upset by the experience but later earns the nickname legend for his many kills guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour and TAA tells him she may not be there when he returns back in Iraq Chris is shocked to learn bigles died in surgery to repair the wounds he sustained aign to kill Mustafa who has been sniping US Army combat engineers building a barar barricade Chris's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory Chris spots Mustafa and takes him out with a risky longdistance shot at 2100 yd 920m but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls tea and tells her he is ready to come home a sandstorm provides concealment for a chaotic Escape in which he is injured and almost Left Behind after Chris gets back stat side on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life he is asked by a veteran affairs psychiatrist if he is haunted by all the things he did in war when he replies it is all the guys he couldn't save that haunt him the psychiatrist encourages him to help severely wounded veterans in the VA hospital after that Chris gradually begins to adjust to home life years later on February 2nd 2013 Chris says goodbye to his wife and family as he leaves in good spirits to spend time with Eddie Ray ralth a veteran suffering from PTSD at a shooting range an on-screen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by Ralph followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession more are shown attending his memorial service directed by Clint Eastwood in what some may take as alarmingly short order following Jersey Boys which was released only 6 months ago For Heaven's Sake American Sniper proves the dicum never count Aur out by proving itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated Invictus pretty much right out of the starting gate opening with a brutally suspenseful moment of decision for its titular character Chris Kyle the movie establishes all of the things it's going to be about and the things it's not going to be about with plain but almost breathtaking Assurance assigned to hunt for the alaa leader Abu musab Al Zara Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the SE s to the butcher Alara is second in command the plan goes Ary when the butcher captures the father and his son killing them while Chris is pinned down by a sniper this sniper goes by the name Mustafa and is an Olympic Games medalist from Syria meanwhile the insurgents issue a bounty on Chris Chris returns home to his wife and the birth of his son he is distracted by memories of his War experiences and by Tea's concern for them as a couple she wishes he would focus on his home and family Chris leaves for a second tour and is promoted to chief petty officer involved in a shootout with the butcher he helps in killing him when he returns home to a newborn daughter Chris becomes increasingly distant from his family on Chris's third tour Mustafa seriously injures a unit member Ryan bigle job and the unit is evacuated back to base when they decide to return to the field and continue the mission another seal Mark Lee is killed by gunfire sniper is based on a true story that got more complicated after Kyle himself told it in the book that gives the film its title adapted from that book by actor turn screenwriter Jason Dean Hall The Story begins after its ARA set prologue showing Kyle is first a boy and then a young man a schoolyard bullying incident compels Kyle's father Ben Reed to give a scary dinner table fire and brimstone speech to Chris and younger brother Jeff about showing would be tough guys whose boss we protect our own the weight expectation seems to jam the two boys down and in a Flash forward to the boys as young men they're leading the aimless lives of wannabe Rodeo stars that all changes when Chris decides to apply to join the special forces the film depicts him doing so after seeing TV coverage of the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya as he's developing a new sense of purpose while training he also meets future wife TAA Sienna Miller post n11 the war in Iraq puts Kyle to work as a Sharpshooter and the film depicts his skills in this area as almost Eerie they were so in real life too as it happens Kyle racked up 160 confirmed kills making him the deadliest such operative in US Navy history Eastwood's handling of various battle scenarios including those in which Kyle is compelled to take down women and children is typically anti- elaborate for the director Grim purposeful compelling violence and its relation to both American history and the American character is is one of Eastwood's great themes as both a filmmaker and a film actor American Sniper is a movie of violent action but its action is surrounded by a terrible Stillness its story of War contains Valor and horror the destructive and self-destructive conflicts that are intrinsic to a person endowed With A Warrior's Noble nature as such it's a cinematic tragedy in the deepest and most classical sense of the term Eastwood considers recent events with a fierce anger even as he considers the universal span of human experience with an Olympian ruthful alongside the Angelic figure at the center of Richard linklater's Boyhood whose Texas youth is unshadowed by wild impulses or unruly thoughts there's another Texan whose altogether more complex and troubl tale is told by Eastwood in American Sniper which could as aptly be called manhood Eastwood's movie is centered on the true story of Chris Kyle a Navy SEAL whose lethal Marksmanship put to action in the Iraq War was unprecedented the movie is based on Kyle's 2012 Memoir Nicholas schmidle wrote about Kyle in the magazine last year for the sake of clarity I'll call Eastwood's character Chris American Sniper starts with military action with Chris stretched out on a roof in fola gazing at the streets through a rifle sight at a young boy preparing to launch an explosive device handed to him by a woman presumably his mother against an approaching Marine Convoy but when the movie cuts to a flashback to Chris's childhood hunting Les lesson with his father during which he shoots a deer it turns into a truncated and telescoped cinematic building Stroman telling the story of Chris's Boyhood as a sort of founding myth how an American boy grows up to become a singularly effective Soldier it's a family story that starts with Chris's father teaching him to hunt and discovering the boy's natural gift for Marksmanship Chris is a sort of Mozart of the rifle but it takes a particular and peculiar Confluence of circumstances for him to Marshall his talent for something more than sport from the earliest age Chris is cast in the role of protector he defends his younger brother Jeff from a bully in the schoolyard and Chris's father sets up the scenario in a dinner table anecdote that plays out like country Plato saying that there are three kinds of people wolves predators sheep victims and sheep dogs protecting sheep against wolves the metaphor Finds Its echo in Plato's Republic in which Socrates explicitly liken Society Guardians with their pensent both for ferocity and for patriotism to dogs in Plato's dialogue the Guardians are put through a rigorous philosophical training not least on the assumption that they will also be the rulers of an ideally just Society Chris doesn't have a philosophical training he has Christian faith a sense of family and above all a fund of life experience albeit one that arises from a very particular tradition there's a moment early in the film in which Eastwood cues in a glance the impending tragedy a very brief shot of Chris seene through a doorway heading to rodeo grounds which borrows from the final shot of John Ford's The Searchers it's just a touch but it's a brilliant one Eastwood marks Chris from the start with his coming isolation even in the young man's easy days of sporting Adventure his character Bears the seed of the awesome price that he'll pay for his distinction but it's a distinction that arises from the enduring Spirit of the western translated into modernity for better and worse but he is not a director of an overly analytical intellectualizing bent and this turns out to be one of this movie's great strengths it has nothing to say about whether the war in Iraq was a good or bad idea it simply is and Kyle is an actor in it and he's also a devoted husband and father but Kyle is more than just an actor in the war he's a True Believer in what he's doing and his intensity in this respect bleeds into his relationships back at home in ways that can't help but be unsettling when a fellow Soldier is killed in a raid Kyle returns to the US to attend the funeral at the gravide a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home Chris a to tea that what killed his friend was that letter tea doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of tea well played by Sienna Miller this and her Turnin foxcatcher represent a release from movie jail for the actress could have been another stock complaining military wife in other hands in this film she's more complex she clearly knows that the qualities she admires loves in Kyle his rigid loyalty and sharp Focus his determination to see his commitments through are inextricable from his identity as a military operative but even a warrior as devoted as Kyle can't escape being messed with by his mission as the film continues and the sniper rep grows more fearsome the nature of his accomplishments gets Messier and Messier and by the time the sniper has completed his tour the viewer has good reason to be little or more than a little frightened by the guy but TAA is not this puts the whole story on an oddly suspended note that as it happens is resolved by a real life ending that's not very Hollywood here is a one- sentence review of American Sniper the Marshall virtues are so precious rare and fragile that they should be sent into combat only with the greatest caution Clint Eastwood's new film is political in the highest sense of the word he dramatizes the use and abuse of state power in the light of great philosophical ideas these ideas illuminate the drama not as if from afar but from within they aren't imposed on the drama but arise spontaneously from Eastwood's contemplation of people and events and they find Echoes throughout his career the Latter Day cowboy has no Frontier and no range Chris comes to realize that for all his aptitude he's a cardboard Cowboy living his life for show for a kind of show biz that's low in substance Chris's sense of self is undermined by his girl girlfriend's infidelity a key moment that binds his sense of purpose with his sense of masculinity and his ined sense of higher purpose is aroused by the 1998 attacks against American embassies in Nairobi and dar e salum for Chris America isn't just a Homeland and a sense of self it's an idea and Eastwood dramatizes the mounting nightmare of a man of unique talent who is increasingly possessed by that idea American Sniper is the story of a genius in crisis it's a movie like eastwoods bir bird in which Charlie Parker's singular Talent comes with a self-destructive streak Chris undergos a singularly demanding training to become a seal it's physically severe and emotionally brutal and Chris submits to it unquestioningly and endures its rigors triumphantly until he gets to the shooting range there his genius Rises to the surface in a scene that has explicitly to do with vision he dares to contradict his Marksmanship instructor's order and proves that he sees more and better than his instructor does for Eastwood the military makes a man which war then destroys but Eastwood doesn't fill the movie with the details of practical politics he sets up Chris's fighting with a mighty intensely focused abstraction the lies behind the rush to war are never explored explicitly nor is the war in Afghanistan or any debate regarding America's General strategies against Al-Qaeda there's no reference to the torture of Iraqis at Abu jih to debates over the Iraq war or to any explicit policy discuss discussions at all yet the movie doesn't convey a sense of a whitewash rather Eastwood reduces Chris's situation to its most Elemental and shows that even under optimal circumstances with completely dedicated and professional fighting forces operating under political premises that they believe in even if the Iraq War were to pass moral muster as a just war and political muster as a necessary one it would be equally destructive to the soldiers who wage it and the fact that this war doesn't pass either test is for Eastwood a political damnation of the very first order for Chris it feels great to shoot and terrible to kill great to protect one's own and awful to do what's needed to protect one's own his quickly mounting count of confirmed kills gets him nicknamed The Legend and he hates it because he knows that he's being acclaimed for doing something that he knows to be both holy and sinful too sacred for desecration and vulgar slogans and too horrific to be celebrated from the very start of Eastwood's directorial career Play Misty for me the conflict between Public Image and private identity is a morally decisive fault line and the demagogue who doesn't just have an incidental Public Image but takes pride in it and seeks to derive Advantage from it is a singular villain a Bible carrier more than a Bible reader Chris senses that he's defending the Faith by violating its fundamental tenants and that he's being celebrated for the worst part of his service and even more that the celebration of Warriors reveals the ignorance of the unbearable truth of battle even as he becomes one of American society's Heroes Chris becomes in his own mind a pariah unfit for Society at the same time the tormented Chris returning home between tours of Duty deems Society unfit for the likes of him the very Comforts and Pleasures to which a family man aspires now strike him as unseemly the obliviousness of a society that enjoys those Pleasures while its most Valiant members are fighting a horrific War far away strikes him as a desecration of the sacrifices of those fighters in the name of their Valor War itself becomes a sort of white whale a goal pursued furiously and monom maniacally for its own sake without regard to purpose or consequence Chris is both fiercely protective of his comrades in arms and Furious at what he sees as evil he sees his mission as both necessary and just and that very fact renders it all the more painful he personally doesn't have doubts about his mission even though he finds others including his brother Jeff also serving in Iraq who do that sense of righteousness drives Chris deeper into division against himself the more certain he may be of the justice of his fight the more ardently he takes the fight to the enemy despite his Keen sense of pain at dealing death and his Keen awareness that the more aggressively he pursues his mission and defends his colleagues the greater will be the sacrifice demanded of them the greater the likelihood that they'll be wounded or killed Eastwood greatly admires even reveres the warrior even as he hates War not on principle not because it's intrinsically wrong but because it's intrinsically destructive to Warriors to American warriors he comes off as righteously angry at politicians who sent Chris into Iraq not least for feeding him a false story about the national interest which Chris swallows completely and which ratchets up his Furious sense of protecting the American Homeland from threats or