e [Music] e e e e e e e e e e friends if you want to watch super hit movie American Sniper in English then you must like this video if you are visiting our channel for the first time don't forget to subscribe to our Channel friends in today's video the movie we are going to talk about is called American Sniper we will talk about what this movie is and where you can watch it all the interesting facts about this movie in today's video I am going to tell you I am also going to give you all the information on which op platform or on which satellite channel you will get to watch this movie also we will talk in detail about the technical department music department pre-production filming post- production budget box office collection of this film we will also talk about the story of this film and I will also give you a small review of the story of this film apart from this we will discuss about the facts of this film story line starcast actors performance in the film and which character has played which role that's why I request you friends to watch this video till the end so let's start the video 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 defly the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 255 kills from for tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense 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 to with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Cory Hardrick Kevin LAX Navid nebon and Kier odonnell in supporting roles 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 follow 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 of January and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date citation needed 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 movie plot 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 US Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with the US Navy Seals Chris meets T yasta Baker at an Irish pub in San Diego and the two soon marry he is sent to Rock after the September 11th attacks his first kills are a woman and boy who attacked US Marines on patrol with the Russian made arg3 anti-tank grenade Chris is visibly upset by the experience but later earns the nickname legend for his many kills assigned to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu musab alzari Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the seals to the butcher alzar is second in command the plan goes around 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 T has 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 guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour and tya 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 2,100 y 1,920 M but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls toat 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 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 PE TSD at a shooting range an onscreen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by ralth followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession more are shown attending his memorial service cast Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle Sienna Miller as T Luke Grimes as Mark Lee Jake mcdorman as bigles Cory Hardrick as d/ Dandridge Kevin lacks as d/ himself Navid Negan as shik alabad Kier odonnell as Jeff Kyle Eric close as Dia agents need in addition Sami shik appears as Mustafa a character partially based on Iraqi sniper Juba while Mido Hamada portrays the butcher a character possibly based on Abu diat development on May 24th 2012 it was announced that Warner Brothers had acquired the rights to the book with Bradley Cooper set to produce and star in the screen adaptation Cooper had thought of Chris Pratt to play Kyle but Warner Brothers agreed to buy it only if Cooper would star in September 2012 David or Russell said he was interested in directing the film on February 2nd 2013 Chris Kyle was murdered on May 2nd 2013 it was announced that Steven Spielberg would direct Spielberg had read Kyle's book though he desired to have a more psychological conflict present in the screenplay so an enemy sniper character could serve as the Insurgent Sharpshooter who was trying to track down and kill Kyle Spielberg's ideas contributed to the development of a lengthy screenplay approaching 160 Pages due to Warner Brothers budget constraints Spielberg felt he could not bring his vision of the story to the screen on August 5th 2013 Spielberg dropped out of directing on August 21st 2013 it was reported that Clint Eastwood would instead direct the film casting on March 14th 2014 Sienna Miller joined the cast on March 16th 2014 Kyle gner was cast as was Cory Hardrick on March 18th 2014 on March 20th 2014 Navid nebon Eric Clos Eric leine Ray Goos and Jake mcdorman also joined the cast as did Luke Grimes and Sam Jagger on March 25th 2014 Kevin LAX a former Navy SEAL was also cast and served as a technical adviser another former Navy SEAL Joel Lambert also joined the film portraying a Delta sniper on June 3rd Max Charles was added to the cast to portray Kyle's son Colton Kyle filming principal photography began on March 31st 2014 in Los Angeles witty additional filming in Morocco on April 23rd the Los Angeles Times reported that 10 days of filming set in an Afghan Village was set to begin at the blue cloud Movie Ranch in the Santa Clarita area on May 7th shooting of the film was spotted around El Centro a milk factory was used as the abandoned date Factory which insurgents close in on from all directions at the climax of the film The Pier and bar scenes were filmed in Seal Beach California cinematographer Tom Stern shot the film with Ari Alexa XT digital cameras and Panavision c-h series anamorphic lenses the film is Eastwood's second to be shot digitally after Jersey Boys music there is no music by credit on this film Clint Eastwood who has composed the scores for most of his films since Mystic River 2003 is credited as the composer of tya theme Joseph estab is credited as composer of additional music and as music editor the film also features the song Someone Like You by Van Morrison which plays during the wedding scene and the funeral by any om box office American Sniper gross $ 350.12 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $547.00 million against a budget of around $58 million calculating in all expenses and revenues deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a profit of $243 million making it the second most profitable film of 200 and 14 only behind paramounts Transformers age of Extinction worldwide it is the highest grossing War film of all time breaking Saving Private Ryan's record and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date it is the seventh R rated film to gross over $500 million North America in North America it was the highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing War film unadjusted for inflation and on an adjusted basis second to Saving Private Ryan with $379 million the fourth highest grossing R-rated film of all time Behind The Passion of the Christ Deadpool and Deadpool 2 Warner Brothers fourth highest grossing film Behind The Dark Knight The Dark Knight Rises and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two and the eighth highest grossing best picture nominee film behind Avatar t tanic Star Wars ET the Extraterrestrial Toy Story 3 the Lord of the Rings The Return of the King and the Lord of the Rings The Two Towers it became the seventh Warner Brothers film to earn over $300 million in the US and Canada and the 50th film to reach the mark it earned as much as the combined earnings of all of the other 2014 Best Picture nominees on March 8th 2015 it surpassed the Hunger Games Mocking Jay part one to become the highest grossing film of 2014 making it the first R-rated film since Saving Private Ryan 1998 and the first non-franchise film since Avatar 2009 to top the year end rankings American Sniper premiered at the AFI Fest on November 11th 2014 just after a screening of Selma at Gran's Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles in North America the film opened to a limited release on December 25th 2014 playing at four theaters two in New York one in Los Angeles and one in Dallas and earned $610,000 in its opening weekend $850,000 including Christmas Day at an average of $152,500 per venue debuting at number 22 the following week the film earned 67 $ 6,99 playing at the same number of locations at an average of $169,200 one's Mulan Rouge American Sniper holds the record for the most entries in the top 20 top weekend theater averages with three entries at number 12 number 14 and number 17 it earned a total of $3.4 million from limited release in three weekends the film began its wide debut across North American theaters on January 16th 2015 Thursday night showings began at 700 p.m. it set an all-time highest Thursday night opening record for an R-rated drama with $5.3 million previously held by Lone Survivor the film topped the box office on its opening day grossing $30.5 million including Thursday previews from 3,555 theaters setting January records for both biggest debut opening previously held by Cloverfield and single day gross previously held by Avatar in its traditional 3-day opening the film earned $ 89.2 million which was double than expected and broke the record for the largest January opening previously held by ride along and the largest winter opening which is also Eastwood's t opening as a director breaking Gran Torino's opening the 3-day opening is also the biggest opening weekend for a drama film previously held by The Passion of the Christ the second biggest debut for a Best Picture Oscar nominee behind Toy Story 3 the second biggest debut for an R-rated film behind the Matrix Reloaded and the third biggest for a non-comic book non-fantasy SL SciFi film behind Furious 7 and Fast and Furious 6 it also set an IMAX January opening and single weekend record with $10.6 million previously held by Avatar in its fourth weekend and an R-rated IMAX debut record previously held by Prometheus it earned $17.2 million during its 4-day Martin Luther King weekend setting a record for the biggest R-rated 4-day gross in its second weekend the film expanded to 3,75 theaters making it the second widest launch for an R-rated movie Behind the film itself it grossed an estimated 64.6 million in its second weekend declining only by 28% and set the record for the second best hold ever for a movie opening to more than $85 million and also set the record for the eighth largest second weekend gross in just 10 days of release the film surpassed Pearl Harbor $18.5 million to become the second highest grossing War film in North America by its second weekend box office mojo had already reported that the film was unised to become the highest grossing film of 2014 in North America a record that was at the time held by The Hunger Games Mocking J part 1 $334 million judging from its gradual decline and strong holdovers it became the highest grossing IMAX film of January AR grossing $18.8 million from 333 IMAX theaters on Thursday January 29th 2015 to 35 days after its initial release the film surpassed Saving Private Ryan $16.5 Million to become the highest grossing War film in North America unadjusted for inflation by its third weekend of wide release the film expanded to 388 5 theaters 180 additional theaters added breaking its own record of being the widest R-rated film ever released the film topped the box office through its third weekend earning $3.66 million which is the second highest Super Bowl weekend gross behind Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus best of both world's concert after topping the box office for three consecutive weekends the film was overtaken by The SpongeBob Movie sponge out of water in its fourth weekend the film had the biggest debut weekend for a Clint Eastwood film and went on to become the director's top grossing film of all time in each of the countries in which it was released in Italy the film opened at number two with $71 million Eastwood's best opening of all time and Warner Brothers second biggest opening for a non-franchise US Film there it went on to top the box office the following weekend as well its other largest open ings occurred in France $6.3 million where it topped the box office for four consecutive weekends Australia $4.3 million $4.6 million including previews the UK Ireland and Malta $3.8 million Spain $3.2 million Japan $2.8 million Mexico $2.6 million Brazil $1.8 million and and South Korea $11.2 million in total earnings its largest market outside of the US are Italy $23 million and France $22.8 million critical response on Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 294 reviews with an average rating of 6.90 sl10 the website's critical consensus Estates powered by Clint Eastwood's short-handed Direction and a gripping Central performance from Bradley Cooper American Sniper deliverers a tense Vivid tribute to its real life subject on Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 48 critics indicating generally favorable reviews in cinema score polls conducted during the opening weekend audiences gave American Sniper a rare grade of A+ on an a a plus to f scale Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called the film it taught Vivid and sad account of the brief life of the most accomplished Marksman in American Military annals Justin Chang of variety gave the film a positive review saying an excellent performance from a bulked up Bradley Cooper this harrowing and intimate character study offers fairly blunt insights into the physical and psychological toll exacted on the front lines David Denby of the New Yorker gave the the film a positive review saying both a devastating war movie and a devastating anti-war movie A subdued celebration of A Warrior's skill and a sorrowful lament over his alienation and misery Keith fips of the dissolve wrote that the film while wellmade missed a chance to explore the toll that such service exacts on soldiers Chris Nasha of Entertainment Weekly gave the film AC plus saying the film's just a repetition of context free combat missions and one-dimensional targets Elizabeth whitesman of New York Daily News gave the film four out of five stars saying the best movies are ever shifting intelligent and openhearted enough to expand alongside an audience American Sniper is built on this Foundation of uncomon compassion Peter Traverse of Rolling Stone gave the film three and a half stars out of four saying Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and director Eastwood salute Kyle's patriotism best by not denying its toll their targets are clearly in sight and their aim is true Ignat vishet Sky of the a club gave the film May saying American Sniper is imperfect and at times a little corny but also ambivalent and complicated in ways that are uniquely East hudan James birardi nelli of Real views gave the film three and a half stars out of four saying American Sniper lifts director Clint Eastwood out of the doldrums that have plagued his last few films raer Guzman of news day gave the film three out of four stars saying Cooper Nails the role of an American killing machine in Clint Eastwood's cleare eyed look at the Iraq War Kenneth Duran of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review saying Eastwood's impeccably crafted action sequences so catch us up in the chaos of combat we are almost not aware that we're watching a film at all Claudia pug of USA Today gave the film three out of four stars saying it's cly Cooper's show substantially bulked up and affecting a believable Texas draw Cooper embodies Kyle's confidence intensity and vulnerability Joshua Roth cop of Time Out New York gave the film four out of five stars saying only Clint Eastwood could make a movie about an Iraq war veteran and Infuse it with doubts Mission anxiety and ruination Dina Bala praised the film saying his Focus was not on whom we were fighting but the unbearably high price Americans pay for Waging War regardless of its Target the film is a cautionary tale for Americans about why we must avoid war it is not a celebration of waging it the film drew some negative reviews Matt Tavi en Rolling Stone wrote that the movie turned the complicated moral questions and mass Bloodshed of the Iraq War into a black and white fairy tale without presenting the historical context Alex Von tunel man of the Guardian argued that the film presented a simplified black and white portrayal of the Iraq War and that it features the Distortion of facts into unreliable myths based upon previous Legends David masiat of Salon criticized the movie's focus on physical rather than moral courage as the ultimate manly virtue Cavalry Scout sniper Garrett reppenhagen stated that he did not view Iraqi civilians as Savages but as part of a friendly culture for which the movie has furthered ignorance fear and bigotry inor Hong of the rap gave the film a negative review saying director Clint Eastwood's focus on Kyle is so tight that no other character including wife toat Sienna Miller comes through as a person and the scope so narrow that the film engages only superficially with the many moral issues surrounding the Iraq War several other articles have also been critical of the movie responding to critics Eastwood said that American Sniper shows what war does to the people left behind and that presenting the fact of what war does to the family and the people who have to go back into civilian life like Chris Kyle did is the biggest anti-war statement any film can make he stated one of my favorite war movies that I've been involved with is Letters From iojima and that was about family about being taken away from life being sent someplace in World War II everybody just sort of went home and got over it now there is some effort to help people through it he also said I was a child growing up during World War II That was supposed to be the one to end all wars and four years later I was standing at the draft board being drafted during the Korean conflict and then after that there was Vietnam and it goes on and on forever I just wonder does this ever stop and no it doesn't so each time we get in these conflicts it deserves a lot of thought before we go waiting in or waiting out going in or coming out it needs a better thought process I think Bradley Cooper stated that much of the criticism ignores that the film was about widespread neglect of returning veterans and that people who take issue with Kyle should redirect their attention to the leaders who put the troops there in the first place he said we looked at hopefully igniting attention about the lack of care that goes to vets any discussion that has nothing to do with vets or what we did or did did not do for them every conversation in those terms is moving farther and farther from what our soldiers go through and the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide each day Cooper said that an increasing number of soldiers are returning from conflict psychologically damaged only to be more or less discarded former First Lady Michelle Obama and former Republican party Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin also spoke out in support of the movie historical accuracy several major news sources commented on the accuracy of the film and how it differs from Chris Kyle's written accounts the enemy sniper Mustafa is a major character in the film but receives only a small mention in the Memoir Kyle noted I never saw him but other snipers later killed an Iraqi sniper we think was him according to the Memoir Kyle's 2,100 yard shot was taken against an Insurgent holding a rocket launcher not Mustafa time notes that according to screenwriter Jason Hall Kyle said of Mustafa he shot my friend I'm not going to put his name in my book the first combat scene in the film has Kyle killing a boy and mother who tried to attack US troops with a grenade the boy was added for the film The film's Narrative has Navy SEAL Ryan Big's job dying from surgical complications from an operation on his face relatively soon after being shot in Iraq but in reality it was several years later the character the butcher was created for the film although this character may have been based on the real life Abu dirat or Ahmed Hashim ABD l i saw I the visual blog information is beautiful stated that while taking creative license into account the film was 56.9% accurate when compared to real life events summarizing a lot of the events in the movie did happen although Kyle's involvement in them was repeatedly exaggerated in the film Kyle decides to join the Navy after watching the 1998 United States Embassy bombings on TV in reality this did not contribute to his decision prop baby one aspect of the film that received negative comment was its use of a fake baby doll in one scene which was said to look obviously artificial and that it was a distraction to critics and viewers in at least one media screening of the film The Audience laughed out loud at how artificial the doll appeared when discussing the film's prospects for winning an Academy Award Fandango critic Dave carer said the reason why American Sniper is not going to win is because of the plastic baby in the telegraph journalist Mark Harris said that plastic baby is going to be rationalized by Eastwood utour cultists until the end of days in response screenwriter Jason Hall replied hate to ruin the fun but real baby number one showed up with a fever real baby number two was no show Clint voice gimme the doll kid home media American Sniper was released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 19th 2015 by Warner home video upon its first week of release on home media in the United States the film topped both the neelen video scan First Alert chart which tracks overall disc sales as well as the Blu-ray disc sales chart in the week ending May 24th 2015 American Sniper movie review 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 utour out by proving itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated invit is 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 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 iro set prologue showing Kyle as first a boy and then a young man a schoolyard bullying incident compelled 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 to Sienna Miller post 911 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 two 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 but he is not a director of an overly analytical or intellectualizing bent and this turns out to be one 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's 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 a funeral at the grave side a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home Chris Avers to tya that what killed his friend was that letter tya doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of tya well played by Sienna Miller this and her turn in Fox catcher 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 SL 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 messy and messy 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 T 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 star Bradley Cooper does some of his best acting ever here bulked up to make himself resemble with respect to body shape a large scale 9vt battery Cooper suppresses the actorly knowingness he's brought to most of his prior screen roles and gives his character here a simultaneous credulousness and itch he feels like a dangerous guy but not a malicious one his lack of self-doubt never comes off as alienating in its steadfastness even at moments when it seems like it's misplaced as when Kyle finds out for the last time that he can't really be his brother's keeper moments such as that one and and they are strewn throughout the movie are what make American Sniper one of the more tough-minded and effective War pictures of post-american century American Cinema other information about this film a skillful straightforward combat picture gradually develops into something more complex and ruminative in Clint eastwoods American Sniper an account of the Iraq War as observed through the rifle sites of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle whose for tours of Duty cemented his standing as the deadliest Marksman in US US military history hardwiring the viewer into Kyle's battle scard psyche thanks to an excellent performance from a bulked up Bradley Cooper this harrowing and intimate character study offers fairly blunt insights into the physical and psychological toll exacted on the front lines yet strikes even its familiar notes with a sobering Clarity that finds the 84-year-old filmmaker in very fine form depressingly relevant in the wake of recent headlines Warner's December 25th release should drum up enough grown-up audience interest to work as a serious-minded alternative to more typical holiday fair and looks to extend its critical and Commercial reach well into next year although Steven Spielberg was set to direct before exiting the project last summer just a few months after Kyle's death in Texas at the age of 38 American Sniper turns out to be very much in Eastwood's wheelhouse emerging as arguably the director's strongest most sustained effort in the 8 years since his world or two double header of Flags of Our Fathers and letters from iojima as was clear in those films and this one few directors share Eastwood's confidence with large-scale action much less his inclination to investigate the brutality of what he shows us to acknowledge both the pointlessness and the necessity of violence while searching for more honest ambiguous definitions of heroism than those to which we're accustomed in these respects and more Kyle who earned the nickname Legend from his fellow troops a achieved a staggering record of 160 confirmed kills and became one of the most coveted targets of the Iraqi Insurgency makes for a uniquely fascinating and ultimately tragic case study we first meet Kyle Cooper as he's hunched over a rooftop overlooking a blown out structure in fya Iraq taking deadly aim at a local woman and her young son walking some distance away only Kyle's specific Vantage allows him to see that they're preparing to lob a grenade at nearby Marines the fraud situation and its queasy making Stakes thus introduced the film abruptly flashes back some 30 odd years to Kyle's Texas childhood establishing him as a skilled shooter at a young age played by Cole Cony as well as a brave protector to his younger brother Jeff Luke Sunshine after a brief Rodeo career Cooper's Kyle joins the ranks of the Navy Seals whose brutal training regimen including the muddy beach front endurance tests of the dreaded hell week is depicted more extensively here than they were in last year's military Memoir adaptation Loan Survivor as scripted by Jason Hall pairing down Kyle's 2012 autobiography written with Scott mccuan and Jim defy these flashbacks form the film's most conventional stretch including a tartly humorous scene at a bar where Kyle charms his way past the defenses of the beautiful T Sienna Miller despite her early claim that she'd never date one of those arrogant self-centered Pricks who call themselves seals yet Kyle belies that description revealing himself as a God-fearing red-blooded American galvanized into fighting as so many were by the shock of 9/11 and his determination to avenge his country indeed the ink is barely dry on his anas marriage license when Kyle gets shipped off to fya where he and his comrades are well served by his exceptional abilities as a sniper it's here that the story catches up with that tense mother and child setup this time not sparing us the gruesome inevitable aftermath describing his actions to a fellow Soldier Kyle breathes that was evil like I had never seen before a statement that lingers meaningfully as we watch him racking up kill after kill efficiently dispatching the male Iraqi insurgents he spies surreptitiously arming themselves in a back alley or driving a car bomb in the direction of American soldiers in each of these life death scenarios Kyle must use what little time he has to swiftly assess whether his targets indeed pose an immediately actionable threat lest he face recriminations from lawyers liberals and other members of the blame America First crowd a point the book drives home far more vehemently than the film not surprisingly Eastwood avoids waiting into the ideological MC of the situation and sticks tightly to Kyle's POV yielding an almost purely experiential view of the conflict in which none of the other soldiers becomes more than a two-dimensional sketch dates and locations are rarely identified and any larger geopolitical context has been deliberately alighted some details have clearly been fudged Kyle says he's 30 when he enlists but he was actually in his mid 20s yet the achievement of American Sniper is the way it subtly undermines and expands its protagonists initially gung-ho worldview as Eastwood defly teases out any number of logistical and ethical complications Kyle's frustration at always having to engage from a distance rather than on the ground with his comrades the sometimes difficult collaboration between the seals and the less well-trained Marines especially when they begin the dangerous task of clearing out Iraqi houses and above all the near impossibility of figuring out whom to trust in an environment where everyone is presumed hostile this becomes especially crucial when Kyle and company receive orders to take down the al-Qaeda terrorist Abu musab alzari and his vicious second in command the butcher Mido Hamada named in part for his imaginative use of power drills The Hunt For The Butcher and eventually a syrian-born sniper named Mustafa Sami shik whose lethal Precision Rivals Kyle's own leads the troops into a series of breathless skirmishes from a horrific Al-Qaeda attack on the family of an Iraqi Sheik Navid Negan to a nighttime Ambush that develops as a result of Kyle's extraordinary perceptiveness in a seemingly benign situation working as usual with DP Tom Stern and editors Joel Cox and Gary D roach Eastwood handles these ambitious set pieces with an unfussy professionalism worthy of his subject the camera maintaining a gritty ground level feel with the exception of a few crane shots demanded by the complex staging of the film's climactic shootout while switching depthly among a range of persp Ives that nonetheless maintain a strong continuity of action less adroitly handled are the regular cutaways to T and their two children back in Texas providing necessary but over emphatic reminders that Kyle's loved ones are paying dearly for his military service tya seems to have a bad habit of catching her husband on the phone at those unfortunate moments when mortar and shrapnel are exploding around him which is understandably often when he's home on leave he's painfully distant reluctant to talk about his experiences and barely able to function which is tasq to spout some gratingly obvious dialogue of the even when you're here you're not here variety what works in these scenes however is the disquieting sense that Kyle's normal life has shifted into the war zone and that his time with his family is passing him by in fast jarring blips we see his kids at only brief intervals here and the rate at which they grow up must be as startling for him as it is for us in its revelation of character through action its concern with procedure rather than politics and its focus on an exceptionally gifted US soldier struggling to make sense of his small yet essential place in a war he only partly understands Eastwood's picture can't help but recall the Hur locker and if it's ultimately a more Earnest and prosaic less formally daring Affair than Katherine Bigelow's film it nevertheless emerges as one of the few dramatic treatments of the UDS Iraq conflict that can stand in its company and just as the H Locker found revelatory depths in Jeremy rener so American Sniper hinges on Cooper's restrained yet deeply expressive lead performance allowing many of the drama's unspoken implications to be read plainly in the actor's increasingly War ravaged face Cooper who packed on 40b for the role is superb here full of spirit and down home charm early on he seems to slip thereafter into a sort of private Agony that only those who have truly served their country can know a late sequence shot in an impenetrable Sandstorm provides the most literal possible metaphor for his own personal fog of War perhaps the film's most humanizing touch is its willingness to show Kyle not just reacting but thinking attempting to grasp ideas that have thus far eluded him whether he's spending time with veterans who have lost limbs and worse on the battlefield coming to grips with the difference between him and his reluctant Marine brother Kier odonnell or shrugging awkwardly when someone calls him a hero as if the word were a particularly ill-fitting sweater while the circumstances of Kyle's death add a note of tragic urgency to the film's matter of fact examination of post-dramatic stress disorder the moment itself is left offc screen a decision that feels consistent with the scrupulous restraint that characterizes the production as a whole the visual and editorial choices discreetly reinforce The Clash between the hell of Modern Warfare the color all but drained away from Stern's images and the Purgatory of middleclass American Life accentuated by a sound mix that allows us to register the hard pop of every gunshot while Eastwood's musical compositions have sometimes been hit or miss he's never written a subtler score than the one here providing faint almost imperceptible accompaniment in a film that encourages us to reflect as well as feel it's a choice that speaks volumes positive elements much of the story is pulled from Chris Kyle's autobiography and it does little to dispel the fact that many would consider Kyle an unalloyed American hero Chris father tells him that there are three types of people in the world sheep wolves and sheep dogs and when Chris beats up a bully who was hitting his little brother Jeff Dad instead of punishing him for fighting simply says well then you know who you are you know your purpose this is not to condone fighting at school of course but it does illustrate why Chris sees himself as that cheap dog protecting American military personnel from the Wolves all around him he's not conflicted about his job nor does he ring his hands over his marks he has a Clarity of purpose unusual in this Naval gazing age of ours his job is to fight evil he believes and that evil is embodied in the terrorists he guns down it's a shame these people picked up weapons to attack he thinks but now that they have he has no question about what his role needs to be Chris Clarity of purpose is so Crystal Clear in fact that it makes it hard for him to go home he feels that if he's not in Iraq Americans are dying needlessly the sheep dog in him won't stop patrolling even as his wife tya tells him that she and his kids could sure use some protection and companionship too eventually a counselor tells him that his sheep dog days aren't necessarily over just because his tours of Duty are he encourages Chris to help other Soldiers and Sailors now Stateside and struggling to adapt Chris throws himself into this new Arena serving as a mentor to many and he becomes a laudable husband and father to boot spiritual elements Chris seems to be a sincere if less than reflective Christian he says he believes in God country family and insists that he could stand before the Creator and answer for every shot I took a huge Crusader cross is tattooed on one of his arms and he carries a Bible with him wherever he goes but Chris stole that Bible from a church pew as a kid and one of his fellow Navy Seals tells Chris that he's never seen him actually open the book up this seal wants to be a pastor when he returns from the war and struggles with the morality of what they're doing in Iraq the insurgents have their own faith of course though we don't see much of it Chris and his Cotter confront and question an Islamic cleric a pastor recites verses from acts that relate to spiritual judgment sexual content before he joined the Navy Chris was a Rodeo Cowboy and he hopes that his latest Buckle a traditional trophy given to Cowboys for winning an event will get him laid by his girlfriend but then he and his brother discover Chris girlfriend with another man both hurriedly dressing Chris later picks up his eventual wife at a bar after she rejects another guy who hits on her though she tries to keep Chris at arms length for a Time the two eventually kiss then sleep together we see them in bed together nude under the sheets her in bra and panties her wrapping her legs around him as he carries her and her running her foot up his leg to his crotch several times they coily flirt around with sexual topics married when Chris comes home from a tour he and his wife awkwardly begin making moves again to become intimate a tricky thing considering how long they've been apart someone removes his ring when trying to score at a bar there are one-off jokes about incest masturbation oral sex anatomical sizes and talking dirty on the phone the f- word word is used several times in a sexual context among other sexually provocative and descriptive words violent content Chris and his handpicked team try to take down a radical nicknam The Butcher and his moniker seems well picked in perhaps the movie's most horrific scene the butcher drags a little boy out into the street the grandson of a cleric who gave Chris team information takes an electric drill and drives the bit into the boy's leg then when the cleric makes a move Mo to rescue the lad he's gunned down as the butcher drills through the boy's head leaving him dead in a pool of blood as he shouts out warnings to onlookers the scene is not filmed from a close-up point of view but the suggestion it gives us is terrifying later when Chris closes in on the butcher we go into his lair a supposed restaurant where body parts including decapitated heads are stored one dead bloody body presumably someone tortured to death hangs from chains in contrast Chris own work is practically sterile most of his kills and we see many of them are accomplished quickly and cleanly accompanied by a small splash of blood but his work has its own sheer of Horrors his first Mark is a boy about 12 years old the kid's mother gave him a grenade to throw at an advancing Squadron of American Military Chris shoots him once and when the mom picks up the grenade to curl it herself Chris puts her down too he nearly has to shoot another child who picks up a weapon and aims it at an American column the seal holds his fire long enough for the boy to finally drop the weapon and run away other kills are shown of course along with casualties on the American side of things one seal is shot in the head the bullet mangling much of his face another suffering a similar wound bleeds out protracted firefights and grenade attacks produce high body counts we see a vehicle drive over a dead body back home when a dog wrestles with a little boy at a backyard party Chris thinks it's attacking he runs over pins the dog with his hand and pulls off his belt preparing to beat the Beast Chris shoots a rattlesnake during training he puts someone in a headlock people are pushed around and to the ground kids on a playground beat each other bloody at a state Side Bar one Macho military guy becomes an impromptu dart board with a bullseye on his back he stands still as his friends throw darts into him several hang in the skin on his back crude or profane language about 100 fword nearly 40 s words and scads of other swear words including a b c h h p and d k God's name is misused a dozen times more often than not combined with d n Jesus name is abused two or three times drug and alcohol content Chris and his brother drink lots of beer Chris and his seal friends pour and drink champagne after Chris's wedding and many quaf beer as well when Chris first meets tya at a bar she's already had a drink or two and he engages her in a contest involving Shots by the time she staggers out she's so drunk she throws up Chris holds up her hair so it doesn't get covered in vomit other negative elements Special Forces vehicles and gear are sometimes emblazoned with the skull of the Punisher a gun brandishing Marvel Superhero conclusion you don't become a worldclass sniper without a laser-like focus on what's in front of you American Sniper suggests that Chris retain that sniper's Clarity and fixation throughout his life while his comrades May ruminate on the war's purpose and morality Chris simply concentrates on his job as others wonder about what might have been Chris focuses on what is early in her relationship with Chris to elements the many missteps she's taken I thought I was meant for something more she confesses Chris suggests there's no point in looking back those wrong pics put you here he tells her made you who you are if we were able to see American Sniper through Chris own laser sight eyes we'd be able to easily reduce it down to its many positives its heroism and sacrifice and strong sense of Duty and family but movies aren't meant to be viewed through a scope they require you to look at everything around you so the story we're given here is more complex than Chris would deem it and more problematic it's filled with extreme some time sistic violence presented to illustrate a point but they're nevertheless and it's crammed with colorful language read lots of f-words that accurately reflects the way these men surely talked but they're nevertheless American Sniper is about more than one man's heroism in the midst of War it's about the high cost of that war on those involved and it asks demands that we too feel and see if not quite experience that cost more details in my review for Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys from earlier this year I noted that the director didn't really seemed to be interested in doing anything worthwhile for his pictures and it seemed like he was directing more as a way to keep busy rather than convey any artistic Vision but Jersey Boys looks like it's bursting with imagination compared to the hollow thoughtless American Sniper the real story of US Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle doesn't question the moral cost of what it means to kill well over 100 people one by one it's not even that the movie lacks Nuance as much as it lacks just about everything short of star Bradley Cooper giving it is all for a soldier he deeply admired East wig doesn't cheer even an ounce of that passion as he turns in a movie that couldn't even charitably be described as workmanlike as it talks down to its audience and yet almost consciously avoids saying anything at all after watching the events of 9/11 on TV the noble Charming intelligent amazing Chris Kyle Cooper joins the Navy Seals and goes to Iraq to serve as a sniper his sharp shooting skills attention to detail and quick thinking earn him the nickname Legend as he continues to rack up kills which includes women and children Kyle isn't a monster and these deaths do weigh on him although never in any specific way in between tours he has brief episodes of PTSD like being being startled by loud noises but that's all that really unsettles him he's also at odds with his wife T Sienna Miller whose sole purpose is to be upset that he's off fighting in Iraq rather than staying at home and helping raise their kids Imagine The Hurt Locker without the nuance posos and insight and you'll be close to what Eastwood has coughed up here like Hurt Locker American Sniper is a political which is fine except it's also a moral thought and slothful in almost every conceivable way the only weight comes from the painfully heavy-handed celebration of Kyle's greatness and personal sacrifice like all boring protagonists Kyle's biggest weakness is he just cares too damn much all biopics have a level of embellishment but Kyle is depicted as an American Saint when he gets the call to deploy to Iraq it comes in the middle of his wedding celebration and whether or not that actually happened it doesn't play as real Eastwood may as well have given Kyle the call in the middle of the vows had him turn directly to the camera and say into the phone in a total dead pan I do the bad guys even have their own handsome sniper Mustafa Sami Sheik who becomes Kyle's Nemesis this is a Chuck Norris movie with all of the jingoism and xenophobia but minus the campy fun what does it mean to kill 160 people and have that as your leg Legacy yes he killed these people to protect his fellow soldiers and he never boasts about it but what makes Kyle special Beyond a number and why did Kyle feel compelled to keep going back Beyond just being such a good guy who cared so much about his brothers in arms Eastwood is completely uninterested in exploring these questions or doing anything more than setting down the camera letting the scene play out and then breaking for lunch Steven Spielberg was attached to to direct American Sniper before Eastwood and I continue to wonder how he would have approached this material I assume it would have started by giving a damn Spielberg has been directing movies for as long as Eastwood and directed more films but Spielberg continues to care about his craft he looks for new challenges and won't move forward on a project if he doesn't feel the script is Right meanwhile I continue to wonder why Eastwood directs movies when he steadfast refuses to give them a personality I honestly have no idea why Eastwood bother to direct American Sniper when he can't even be bothered to find a believable fake baby when Kyle is holding his newborn child the rubber baby looks ridiculous and we've mastered fake newborn baby technology they're a standard prop they're not expensive how does a serious director making Hollywood movies look at that take and say yep good enough enough if a journeyman director like John Moore or Len wisman helmed American Sniper it wouldn't be Awards Fair no one would bother to take it seriously Eastwood carries with him a directing pedigree he should have lost by now when it comes to American Sniper and all of his films for the foreseeable future Clint Eastwood fires blindly and shrugs about missing the mark audiences should demand a director who cares about every shot he takes a lot of Clint e W directed films are quite terrible I found million dooll baby in Vitus and Jay Edgar unwatchable Gran Torino was made watchable only because it embraced the cranky old man chasing kids off his long cliche so earnestly that its Badness was somehow hard to look away from Su was a weird attempt to turn the national Transportation safety board a government institution tasked with ensuring that every plane train and bus you ride in the United States is safe into a and yet his popularity as a director endures so clearly his films their tone content and style are speaking to a part of America that I don't really get with the benefit of hindsight this should have given some warning as to the sandwich that was coming down the pipeline when it was released in 2014 American Sniper blew up the box office it grossed $350 million in the US and almost $550 worldwide it was a runaway hit that found a home in the hearts of America's conservatives the same way The Passion of the Christ did it appealed to Red State Bible Thumpers and jingoistic gun wavers in the Deep South Big Sky country and Appalachian Mountains a large section of America absolutely loved this movie about Chris Kyle the deadliest sniper in American military history and a good old boy from Texas who embodied the spark notes version of American Val values in the way he could ride fight shoot and drink not only that but he was turned loose in Iraq to wreak Divine Vengeance on the enemy saving the lives of countless American soldiers in the process as he extinguished evil from this Earth he ultimately died a martyr's death not on the battlefield but still in service to his country trying to save those who came back from war it is the perfect movie to appeal to people with simple World Views the movie establishes is that Chris Kyle has a black and white sense of morality and it never questions whether he is right or wrong it takes that black and white mentality and reinforces its rightness by portraying the Iraqi insurgents as evil incarnate it depicts Iraqis in general as untrustworthy others and more or less justifies Kyle's killing of them in the interest of saving American lives no matter what the film is thus built entirely on an oversimplified usvs them dichotomy and any ambiguity people might have is driven Away by directorial choices the most famous scene in the film is the opening where Kyle is forced to shoot a kid because he is about to throw a grenade at a convoy of Marines the moment is loaded with tension and we are to understand that Kyle was forced to make difficult life or death decisions on a daily basis yet his decisions are always excused by the kavat that killing Iraqis saves American lives the kid was bad and Iraqi so let's not dwell on it this is of course too simple by half it strips any Nuance or moral ambiguity from what is and was in reality a deeply ambiguous and complicated situation it never questions the fact that the United States invaded a sovereign country threw it into chaos and then sent snipers out in its cities to kill Iraqis who opposed the Invaders instead we cheer these snipers for killing our enemies we cheer because the enemy is defined as anyone who isn't us who doesn't love our God or our way of life or look like us a dangerous understanding of reality that in 2017 is becoming increasing entrenched in American politics society and life this is why this movie is deeply problematic it offers a simple binary interpretation of a complex situation and then gos you into cheering for your team without questioning the beliefs or circumstances is underpinning their actions and Americans cheered they cheered to the tune of $350 million the media of course fell right into the strap they fact checked the film noting some of its problematic aspects and the fact that Chris Kyle had a tendency to exaggerate and fabricate stories while openly referring to the Iraqis that he killed as Savages this is exactly the kind of criticism based in reality as it is that conservative culture Warriors cannot handle because it undermines the Simplicity of their worldview if the impossibly good Iraqi killing machine is actually not impossibly good and if Iraqis do not all deserve to be killed then the House of Cards upon which tens of millions of roadkill afficianados arresting their ideas about life would quickly come tumbling down the fact that so many people did love this movie vehemently defending it because it appealed to their tribal instincts in a way that was back then not yet entire L clear should have tipped us off to the fact that the national nightmare of Donald Trump was nearly upon us that so many people had either forgotten ignored or never learned the lessons of the Iraqi War and indeed were willing to close tribal and racial ranks behind a simplified reimagining of what happened there should have tipped us off in a remarkable piece for Rolling Stone Matt tabi seems to have had some inkling of what was going on before the rest of us sniper is a movie whose politics are so ludicrous and idiotic that under normal circumstances it would be beneath criticism the only thing that forces us to take it seriously is the extraordinary fact that an almost exactly similar worldview consumed the walnut-sized mind of the president who got us into the war in question it's the fact that the movie is popular and actually makes sense to so many people that's the problem why didn't you warn us sooner Matt tbot I will say that on the merits as a film Bradley Cooper is truly excellent as Chris Kyle I think this was where I finally realized Bradley Cooper is a deeply talented real actor not just a movie star so maybe that is ultimately the takeaway from American Sniper it heralded the arrival of a supremely talented actor while hinting that parts of the country were buried so deep in their simplistic tribalism that they would be willing to let a fat orange idiot Drive the country into a dumpster as long as he reinforced their worldview 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 defy the film follows the life of Kyle who became the deadliest Marksman in US military history with 2 55 kills from four tours in the Iraq War 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense 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 to with Luke Grimes Jake mcdorman Cory Hardrick Kevin LAX Navid Negan and Kier odonnell in supporting roles 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 citation needed 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 movie plot 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 US Embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the Navy he qualifies for special training and becomes a sniper with the US Navy Seals Chris meets tastu Baker 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 assigned to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu musab Al zaradi Chris interrogates a family whose father offers to lead the seals to the butcher alzari second in command the plan goes AR 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 T has 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 thir tour Mustafa seriously injured is a unit member Ryan Big's 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 guilt compels Chris to undertake a fourth tour and tya 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 long-distance shot at 2,100 yd 1,920 M but this exposes his team's position to numerous armed insurgents in the midst of the gunfight and low on ammunition Chris tearfully calls toat and tells her he is ready to come home a Sans storm provides concealment for a chaotic Escape in which he is injured and almost Left Behind after Chris gets back stateside on edge and unable to adjust fully to civilian life he is asked by a Veterans 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 and onscreen subtitle reveals that Chris was killed that day by ralth followed by archive footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession more are shown attending his memorial service cast Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle Sienna Miller as tat Luke Grimes as Mark Lee Jake mcdorman as bigles Cory Hardrick as d/ Dandridge Kevin LAX as Dober SL himself Navid Negan as shik alabad Kier odonnell as Jeff Kyle Eric close as di agent need in addition Sami shik appears as Mustafa a character partially based on Iraqi sniper hyper Juba while Mido Hamada portrays the butcher a character possibly based on Abu drat development on May 24th 2012 it was announced that Warner Brothers had acquired the rights to the book with Bradley Cooper set to produce and star in the screen adaptation Cooper had thought of Chris Pratt to play Kyle but Warner Brothers agreed to buy it only if Cooper would star in September 2012 David or Russell said he was interested in directing the film on February 2nd 2013 Chris Kyle was murdered on May 2nd 2013 it was announced that Steven Spielberg would direct Spielberg had read Kyle's book though he desired to have a more psychological conflict present in the screenplay so an enemy sniper character could serve as the Insurgent Sharpshooter who was trying to track down and kill Kyle Spielberg's ideas contributed to the development of a lengthy screenplay approaching 160 Pages due to Warner Brothers budget constraints Spielberg felt he could not bring his vision of the story to the screen on August 5th 2013 Spielberg dropped out of directing on August 21st 2013 it was reported that Clint Eastwood would instead direct the film casting on March 14th 2014 Sienna Miller joined the cast on March 16th 2014 Kyle gner was cast as was Cory Hardrick on March 18th 2014 on March 20th 2014 Navid Negan Eric Close Eric leine Ray Goos and Jake mcdorman also joined the cast as did Luke Grimes and Sam jger on March 25th 2014 Kevin LAX a former Navy SEAL was also cast and served as a technical adviser another former Navy SEAL Joel Lambert also joined the film portraying a Delta sniper on June 3rd Max Charles was added to the cast to portray Kyle's son Colton Kyle filming principal photography began on March 31st 2014 in Los Angeles witty editional filming in Morocco on April 23rd the Los Angeles Times reported that 10 days of filming set in an Afghan Village was set to begin at the blue cloud Movie Ranch in the Santa Clarita area on May 7th shooting of the film was spotted around El Centro a milk factory was used as the abandoned date Factory which insurgents close in on from all directions at the climax of the film The Pier and bar scenes were filmed in Seal Beach California cinematographer Tom Stern shot the the film with Ari Alexa XT digital cameras and Panavision c-h e and series anamorphic lenses the film is Eastwood second to be shot digitally after Jersey Boys music there is no music by credit on this film Clint Eastwood who has composed the scores for most of his films since Mystic River 2003 is credited as the composer of T theme Joseph EST is credited as composer of a additional music and as music editor the film also features the song Someone Like You by Van Morrison which plays during the wedding scene and the funeral by any om box office American Sniper gross $35.1 million in North America and $197 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $47.19 against a budget of around $58 million calculating in all expenses and revenues deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a profit of $243 million making it the second most profitable film of 2014 only behind paramounts Transformers age of Extinction worldwide it is the highest grossing War film of all time breaking Saving Private Ryan's record and Eastwood's highest grossing film to date it is the seventh R-rated film to grow gross over $500 million North America in North America it was the highest grossing film of 2014 the highest grossing War film unadjusted for inflation and on an adjusted basis second to Saving Private Ryan with $379 million the fourth highest grossing R-rated film of all time Behind The Passion of the Christ Deadpool and Deadpool 2 Warner Brothers fourth highest grow in film Behind The Dark Knight The Dark Knight Rises and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two and the eighth highest grossing best picture nominee film behind Avatar Titanic Star Wars ET the extra terrestrial Toy Story 3 the Lord of the Rings The Return of the King and the Lord of the Rings The Two Towers it became the seventh Warner Brothers film to earn over $300 million in the US and Canada and the 50th film to reach the mark it earned as much as the combined earnings of all of the other 2014 Best Picture nominees on March 8th 2015 it surpassed The Hunger Games Mocking Jay part one to become the highest grossing film of 2014 making it the first R-rated film since Saving Private Ryan 1998 and the first non-franchise film since Avatar 2009 to top the year end rankings American Sniper premiered at the AFI Fest on November 11th 2014 just after a screening of Selma at Gran's Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles in North America the film opened to a limited release on December 25th 2014 playing at four theaters 2 in New York one in Los Angeles and won in Dallas and earned $610,000 in its opening weekend $800 50,000 including Christmas Day at an average of $152,500 per venue debuting at number 22 the following week the film earned $676,000 playing at the same number of locations at an average of $169,200 per Theater which is the second biggest weekend average ever for a liveaction movie previously held by 200 2001's movie Lon Rouge American Sniper holds the record for the most entries in the top 20 top weekend theater averages with three entries at number 12 number 14 and number 17 it earned a total of $3.4 million from limited release in three weekends the film began its wide debut across North American theaters on January 16th 2015 Thursday night showings began at 700 p.m. it set an alltime highest Thursday night opening record for an R-rated drama with $5.3 million previously held by Lone Survivor the film topped the box office on its opening day grossing $30.5 million including Thursday previews from 3555 theaters setting January records for both biggest debut opening previously held by Cloverfield and single day gross previously held by Avatar in its traditional 3-day open ing the film earned 89.2 million which was double than expected and broke the record for the largest January opening previously held by ride along and the largest winter opening which is also Eastwood's top opening as a director breaking Gran Torino's opening the 3-day opening is also the biggest opening weekend for a drama film previously held by The Passion of the Christ the second biggest debut for a Best Picture Oscar nominee behind Toy Story 3 the second biggest debut for an R-rated film behind the Matrix Reloaded and the third biggest for a non-comic book non-fantasy SL SciFi film behind Furious 7 and Fast and Furious 6 it also set an IMAX January opening and single weekend record with $10.6 million previously held by Avatar in its fourth weekend and an R-rated IMAX debut record previously held by Prometheus it earned $7.2 million during its 4-day Martin Luther King weekend setting a record for the biggest R-rated 4-day gross in its second weekend the film expanded to 3,75 theaters making it the second widest launch for an R-rated movie Behind the film itself it grossed an estimated $ 64.6 million in its second weekend declining only by 28% and set the record for the second best hold ever for a movie opening to more than 8 $5 million and also set the record for the eighth largest second weekend gross in just 10 days of release the film surpassed Pearl Harbor $18.5 million to become the second highest grossing War film in North America by its second weekend box office mojo had already reported that the film was on poised to become the highest grossing film of 2014 in North America a record that was at the time held by The Hunger Games Mocking J part one $334 million judging from its gradual decline and strong holdovers it became the highest grossing IMAX film of January grossing $18.8 million from 333 IMAX theaters on Thursday January 29th 2015 to35 days after its initial release the film surpassed Saving Private Ryan 26 .5 million to become the highest grossing War film in North America unadjusted for inflation by its third weekend of wide release the film expanded to 3,885 theaters 180 additional theaters added breaking its own record of being the widest R-rated film ever released the film topped the box office through its third weekend earning $3.66 million which is the second highest Super Bowl weekend behind Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus best of both world's concert after topping the box office for three consecutive weekends the film was overtaken by The SpongeBob Movie sponge Out of Water in its fourth weekend the film had the biggest debut weekend for a Clint Eastwood film and went on to become the director's top grossing film of all time in each of the countries in which it was released in Italy the film opened at number two with $7.1 million Eastwood's best opening of all time and Warner Brothers second biggest opening for a non-franchise US Film there it went on to top the box office the following weekend as well its other largest openings occurred in France $6.3 million where it topped the box office for four consecutive weekends Australia $4.3 million $46 million including previews the UK Ireland and Malta 3.8 million Spain $3.2 million Japan $2.8 million Mexico $2.6 million Brazil $1.8 million and South Korea $1.2 million in total earnings its largest market outside of the US are Italy $23 million and France $22.8 million critical response on Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 294 reviews with an average rating of 6.90 sl10 the website's critical consensus States powered by Clint Eastwood's sure handed Direction and a gripping Central performance from Bradley Cooper American Sniper delivers a tense Vivid tribute to its real life subject on Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 48 critics indicating generally favorable reviews in cinema score polls conducted during the opening weekend audiences gave American Sniper a rare grade of A+ on an a+2 f scale Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called the film it taught Vivid and sad account of the brief life of the most accomplished Marksman in American Military annals Justin Chang of variety gave the film a positive review saying an excellent performance from a bulked up Bradley Cooper this harrowing and intimate character study offers fairly blunt insights into the physical and psychological toll exacted on the front lines David Denby of the New Yorker gave the film a positive review saying both a devastating war movie and a devastating anti-war movie A subdued celebration of A Warrior's skill and a sorrowful lament over his alienation and misery Keith fips of the dissolve wrote that the film while wellmade missed a chance to explore the toll that such service exacts on soldiers Chris Nasha of Entertainment Weekly gave the film ac+ saying the film's just a repetition of context free combat missions and one-dimensional targets Elizabeth whitesman of New York Daily News gave the film four out of five stars saying the best movies are ever shifting intelligent and openhearted enough to expand alongside an audience American Sniper is built on this Foundation of uncommon compassion Peter Traverse of Rolling Stone gave the film three and a half stars out of four saying Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and director Eastwood salute Kyle's patriotism best by not denying its toll their targets are clearly insight and their aim is true Ignat vishet Sky of the AB Club gave the film a saying American Sniper is imperfect and at times a little corny but also ambivalent and complicated in ways that are uniquely East hudan James birardi nelli of Real views gave the film three and a half stars out of four saying American Sniper lifts director Clint Eastwood out of the doldrums that have plagued his last few films raer Guzman of news day gave the film three out of four stars saying Cooper Nails the role of an American killing machine in Clint Eastwood's cleare eyed look at the Iraq War Kenneth Duran of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review saying Eastwood impeccably crafted action sequences so catch us up in the chaos of combat we are almost not aware that we're watching a film at all Claudia pug of USA Today gave the film three out of four stars saying it's clearly Cooper's show substantially bulked up and affecting a believable Texas draw Cooper embodies Kyle's confidence intensity and vulnerability Joshua Roth cop of Time Out New York gave the film four out of five stars saying only Clint eastw could make a movie about an Iraq war veteran and Infuse it with doubts Mission anxiety and ruination Dina Bala praised the film saying his Focus was not on whom we were fighting but the unbearably high price Americans pay for Waging War regardless of its Target the film is a cautionary tale for Americans about why we must avoid war it is not a celebration of waging it the film drew some negative reviews Matt Tavi in Rolling Stone wrote that the movie turned the complicated moral questions and mass Bloodshed of the Iraq War into a black and white fairy tale without presenting the historical context Alex Von tunel man of the Guardian argued that the film presented a simplified black and white portrayal of the Iraq War and that it features the Distortion of facts into unreliable myths based upon previous Legends David Massi atra of Salon criticized the movie's focus on physical rather than moral courage as the ultimate manly virtue Cavalry Scout sniper Garrett reppenhagen stated that he did not view Iraqi civilians as Savages but as part of a friendly culture for which the movie has furthered ignorance fear and bigotry inuk Kong of the rap gave the film a negative review saying director Clint Eastwood's focus on Kyle is so tight that no other character including wife to Sienna Miller comes through as a person and the scope so narrow that the film engages only superficially with the many moral issues surrounding the Iraq War several other articles have also been critical of the movie responding to critics Eastwood said that American Sniper shows what war does to the people left behind and that presenting the fact of what war does to the family and the people who have to go back into civilian life like Chris Kyle did is the biggest anti-war statement any film can make he stated one of my favorite war movies that I've been involved with is Letters From iojima and that was about family about being taken away from life being sent someplace in World War II everybody just sort of went home and got over it now there is some effort to help people through it he also said I was a child growing up during World War II That was supposed to be the one to end all wars and 4 years later I was standing at the draft board being drafted during the Korean conflict and then after that there was Vietnam and it goes on and on forever I just wonder does this ever stop and no it doesn't so each time we get in these conflicts it deserves a lot of thought before we go waiting in or waiting out going in or coming out it needs a better thought process I think Bradley Cooper stated that much of the criticism ignores that the film was about widespread neglect of returning veterans and that people who take issue with Kyle should redirect their attention to the leaders who put the troops there in the first place he said we looked at hopefully igniting attention about the lack of care that goes to vets any discussion that has nothing to do with vets or what we did or did not do for them every conversation in those terms is moving farther and farther from what our soldiers go through and the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide each day Cooper said that an increasing number of soldiers are returning from conflict psychologically damaged only only to be more or less discarded former First Lady Michelle Obama and former Republican party Vice Presidential nominee Sarah palen also spoke out in support of the movie historical accuracy several major news sources commented on the accuracy of the film and how it differs from Chris Kyle's written accounts the enemy sniper Mustafa is a major character in the film but receives only a small mention in the Memoir Kyle noted I never saw him but other sers later killed an Iraqi sniper we think was him according to the Memoir Kyle's 2,100 yard shot was taken against an Insurgent holding a rocket launcher not Mustafa time notes that according to screenwriter Jason Hall Kyle said of Mustafa he shot my friend I'm not going to put his name in my book the first combat scene in the film has Kyle killing a boy and mother who try to attack US troops with a grenade the boy was for the film The film's Narrative has Navy SEAL Ryan bigle job dying from surgical complications from an operation on his face relatively soon after being shot in Iraq but in reality it was several years later the character the butcher was created for the film although this character may have been based on the real life abu di or Ahmed Hashim ABD I saw the visual blog information is beautiful stated that while taking creative license into account the film was 56.9% accurate when compared to real life events summarizing a lot of the events in the movie did happen although Kyle's involvement in them was repeatedly exaggerated in the film Kyle decides to join the Navy after watching the 1998 United States Embassy bombings on TV in reality this did not contribute to his decision prop baby one aspect of the film that received negative comment was its use of a fake baby doll in One scene which was said to look obviously artificial and that it was a distraction to critics and viewers in at least one media screening of the film The Audience laughed out loud at how artificial the doll appeared when discussing the film's prospects for winning an Academy Award Fandango critic Dave carger said the reason why American Sniper is not going to win is because of the plastic baby in the telegraph journalist Mark Harris said that plastic baby is going to be rationalized by Eastwood utour cultists until the end of days in response screenwriter Jason Hall replied hate to ruin the fun but real baby number one showed up with a fever real baby number two was no show Clint voice gimy the doll kid home media American Sniper was released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 19th 2015 by Warner home video upon its first week of release on home media in in the United States the film to both the neelen video scan First Alert chart which tracks overall disc sales as well as the Blu-ray disc sales chart in the week ending May 24th 2015 American Sniper movie review 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 dictum never count an aour out by Pro itself as Eastwood's strongest directorial effort since 2009's underrated invit is 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 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 iro 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 firan 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 to Sienna Miller post 911 the war in Iraq puts Kyle to work as a sharpshooter and the film depicts his skills in this area as almost eie they were so in real life two 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 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's 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 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 a funeral at the grave side a relative of the soldiers reads one of his last letters expressing doubt and disappointment about the war on the drive home Chris Avers to tya that what killed his friend was that letter tya doesn't know how to respond the viewer likely doesn't either or at least shouldn't the role of T well played by Sienna Miller this and her turn in Fox catcher 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 SL 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 messy and messy 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 tya 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 star Bradley Cooper does some of his best acting ever here bulked up to make himself resemble with respect to body shape a large scale 9volt battery Cooper suppresses the actorly knowingness he's brought to most of his prior screen roles and gives his character here a simultaneous credulousness and itch he feels like a dangerous guy but not a malicious one his lack of self-doubt never comes off as alienating in its steadfastness even at moments when it seems like it's misplaced as when Kyle finds out for the last time that he can't really be his brother's keeper moments such as that one and they are strewn throughout the movie are what make American Sniper one of the more tough-minded and effective War pictures of post- American Century American Cinema other information about this film a skillful straightforward combat picture gradually develops into something more complex and ruminative in Clint eastwoods American Sniper an account of the Iraq War as observed through the rifle sites of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle whose four tours of Duty cemented his standing as the deadliest Marksman in US military history hardwiring the viewer into Kyle's battle scard psyche thanks to an excellent performance from a bulk up Bradley Cooper this harrowing and intimate character study offers fairly blunt insights into the physical and psychological toll exacted on the front lines yet strikes even its familiar notes with a sobering Clarity that finds the 84-year-old filmmaker in very fine form depressingly relevant in the wake of recent headlines Warner's December 25th release should drum up enough grown-up audience interest to work as a serious-minded alternative to more typical holiday fair and looks to extend its critical and Commercial reach well into next year although Steven Spielberg was set to direct before exiting the project last summer just a few months after Kyle's death in Texas at the age of 38 American Sniper turns out to be very much in Eastwood's wheelhouse emerging as arguably the director's strongest most sustained effort in the eight years since his World War II double header of Flags of Our Fathers and letters from iojima as was clear in those films and this one few directors share Eastwood's confidence with largescale action much less his inclination to investigate the brutality of what he shows us to acknowledge both the pointlessness and the necessity of violence while searching for more honest ambiguous definitions of heroism than those to which we're accustomed in these respects and more Kyle who earned the nickname Legend from his fellow troops achieved a staggering record of 160 confirmed kills and became one of the most coveted targets of the Iraqi Insurgency makes for a uniquely fascinating and ultimately tragic case study we first meet Kyle Cooper as he's hunched over a rooftop overlook looking a blown out structure in fya Iraq taking deadly aim at a local woman and her young son walking some distance away only Kyle's specific Vantage allows him to see that they're preparing to lob a grenade at nearby Marines the fraud situation and its queasy making Stakes thus introduced the film abruptly flashes back some 30 odd years to Kyle's Texas childhood establishing him as a skilled shooter at a young age played by Cole Cony as well as a brave protector to his younger brother Jeff Luke Sunshine after a brief Rodeo career Cooper's Kyle joins the ranks of the Navy Seals whose brutal training regimen including the muddy beachfront endurance tests of the dreaded hell week is depicted more extensively here than they were in last year's military Memoir adaptation Loan Survivor as scripted by Jason Hall pairing down Kyle's 2012 autobiography written with Scott mccuan and Jim defly these flashbacks for from the film's most conventional stretch including a tartly humorous scene at a bar where Kyle charms his way past the defenses of the beautiful T Sienna Miller despite her early claim that she'd never date one of those arrogant self-centered Pricks who call themselves seals yet Kyle belies that description revealing himself as a God-fearing red-blooded American galvanized into fighting as so many were by the shock of 9/11 and his determination to avenge his country indeed the ink is barely dry on his an has marriage license when Kyle gets shipped off to fya where he and his comrads are well served by his exceptional abilities as a sniper it's here that the story catches up with that tense mother and child setup this time not sparing us the gruesome inevitable aftermath describing his actions to a fellow Soldier Kyle breathes that was evil like I had never seen before a statement that lingers meaningfully as we watch him racking up kill after kill efficiently dispatching the male Iraqi insurgents he spies surreptitiously arming themselves in a back alley or driving a car bomb in the direction of American soldiers in each of these life or death scenarios Kyle must use what little time he has to swiftly assess whether his targets indeed pose an immediately actionable threat lest he face recriminations from lawyers liberals and other members of the blame America First crowd appoint the book drives home far more vehement than the film not surprisingly Eastwood avoids waiting into the ideological MC of the situation and sticks tightly to Kyle's POV yielding an almost purely experiential view of the conflict in which none of the other soldiers becomes more than a two-dimensional sketch dates and locations are rarely identified and any larger geopolitical context has been deliberately ided some details have clearly been fudged Kyle says he's 30 when he enlists but he was actually in his mid 20s yet the achievement of American Sniper is the way it subtly undermines and expands its protagonists initially gung-ho worldview as Eastwood depthly teases out any number of logistical and ethical complications Kyle's frustration at always having to engage from a distance rather than on the ground with his comrades the sometimes difficult collaboration between the seals and the less well-trained Marines especially when they begin the dangerous task of clearing out Iraqi houses and above all the near impossibility of figuring out whom to trust in an environment where everyone is presumed hostile this becomes especially crucial when Kyle and company receive orders to take down the al-Qaeda terrorist Abu musab alzari and his vicious second in command the butcher Mido Hamada named in part for his imaginative use of power drills The Hunt For The Butcher and eventually a syrian-born sniper named Mustafa Sami shik whose lethal Precision Rivals Kyle's own leads the troops into a series of breathless skirmishes from a horrific Al-Qaeda attack on the family of an Iraqi Chik Navid Negan to a nighttime Ambush that develops as a result of Kyle's extraordinary perceptiveness in a seemingly benign situation working as usual with DP Tom Stern and editors Joel Cox and Gary D roach Eastwood handles these ambitious set pieces with an unfussy professionalism worthy of his subject the camera maintaining a gritty ground level feel with the exception of a few crane shots demanded by the complex staging of the film's climactic shootout while switching depthly among a range of perspectives that nonetheless maintain a strong continuity of action less adroitly handled are the regular cutaways to T and their two children back in Texas providing necessary but over emphatic reminders that Kyle's loved ones are paying dearly for his military service tya seems to have a bad habit of catching her husband on the phone at those unfortunate moments when mortar and shrapnel are exploding around him which is understandably often when he's home on leave he's painfully distant reluctant to talk about his experiences and barely able to function which is tasq to spout some gratingly obvious dialogue of the even when you're here you're not here variety what works in these scenes however is the disquieting sense that Kyle's normal life has shifted into the war zone and that his time with his family is passing him by in fast jarring blips we see his kids at only brief intervals here and the rate at which they grow up must be as startling for him as it is for us in its revelation of character through action its concern with procedure rather than politics and its focus on an exceptionally gifted US soldier struggling to make sense of his small yet essential place in a war he only partly understands Eastwood's picture can't help but recall the HT locker and if it's ultimately a more Earnest and prosaic less formally daring Affair than Katherine bigo's film it nevertheless emerges as one of the few dramatic treatments of the UDS Iraq conflict that can stand in its company and just as the H Locker found revelatory depths in Jeremy rener so American Sniper hinges on Cooper's restrained yet deeply expressive lead performance allowing many of the drama's unspoken implications to be read plainly in the actor's increasingly War ravaged face Cooper who packed on 40 lbs for the role is superb here full of spirit and downhome charm early on he seems to slip thereafter into a sort of private Agony that only those who have truly served their country can know a late sequenced shot in an impenetrable Sandstorm provides the most literal possible metaphor for his own personal fog of War perhaps the film's most humanizing touch is its willingness to show Kyle not just reacting but thinking attempting to grasp ideas that have thus far eluded him whether he's spending time with veterans who have lost limbs and worse on the battlefield coming to grips with the difference between him and his reluctant Marine brother Kier odonnell or shrugging awkwardly when someone calls him a hero as if the word were a particularly ill-fitting sweater while the circumstances of Kyle's death add a note of tragic urgency to the film's matter of fact examination of post-traumatic stress disorder order the moment itself is left off screen a decision that feels consistent with the scrupulous restraint that characterizes the production as a whole the visual and editorial choices discreetly reinforce the clash between the hell of Modern Warfare the color all but drained away from Stern's images and the Purgatory of middle class American Life accentuated by a sound mix that allows us to register the hard pop of every gunshot while Eastwood's musical compositions have sometimes been hit or miss he's never written a subtler score than the one here providing faint almost imperceptible accompaniment in a film that encourages us to reflect as well as feel it's a choice that speaks volumes positive elements much of the story is pulled from Chris Kyle's autobiography and it does little to dispel the fact that many would consider Kyle an unalloyed American hero Chris father tells him that there are three types of people in the world sheep wolves and sheep dogs and when Chris beats up a bully who was hitting his little brother Jeff Dad instead of punishing him for fighting simply says well then you know who you are you know your purpose this is not to condone fighting at school of course but it does illustrate why Chris sees himself as that cheap dog protecting American military personnel from the Wolves all around him he's not conflicted about his job nor does he ring his hands over his marks he has a Clarity of purpose unusual in this Naval gazing age of ours his job is to fight evil he believes and that evil is embodied in the terrorists he guns down it's a shame these people picked up weapons to attack he thinks but now that they have he has no question about what his role needs to be Chris Clarity of purpose is so Crystal Clear in fact that it makes it hard for him to go home he feels that if he's not in Iraq Americans are dying needlessly the sheep dog in him won't stop patrolling even as his wife tya tells him that she and his kids could sure use some protection and companionship too eventually a counselor tells him that his sheep dog days aren't necessarily over just because his tours of Duty are he encourages Chris to help other Soldiers and Sailors now Stateside and struggling to adapt chis throws himself into this new Arena serving as a mentor to many and he becomes a laudable husband and father to boot spiritual elements Chris seems to be a sincere if less than reflective Christian he says he believes in God country family and insists that he could stand before the Creator and answer for every shot I took a huge Crusader cross is tattooed on one of his arms and he carries a Bible with him wherever he goes but Chris stole that Bible from a church pew as a kid and one of his fellow Navy Seals tells Chris that he's never seen him actually open the book up this seal wants to be a pastor when he returns from the war and struggles with the morality of what they're doing in Iraq the insurgents have their own faith of course though we don't see much of it Chris and his cter confront and question an Islamic cleric a pastor recites verses from acts that relate to spiritual judgment sexual content before he joined the Navy Chris was a Rodeo Cowboy and he hopes that his latest Buckle a traditional trophy given to Cowboys for winning an event will get him laid by his girlfriend but then he and his brother discover Chris girlfriend with another man both hurriedly dressing Chris later picks up his eventual wife at a bar after she rejects another guy who hits on her though she tries to keep Chris at Arms length for a Time the two eventually kiss then sleep together we see them in bed together nude under the sheets her in BR and panties her wrapping her legs around him as he carries her and her running her foot up his leg to his crotch several times they coily flirt around with sexual topics married when Chris comes home from a tour he and his wife awkwardly begin making moves again to become intimate a tricky thing considering how long they've been apart someone removes his ring when trying to score at a bar there are one-off jokes about incest masturbation oral sex anatomical sizes and talking dirty on the phone the fword is used several times in a sexual context among other sexually provocative and descriptive words violent content Chris and his handpicked team try to take down a radical nicknamed The Butcher and his moniker seems well picked in perhaps the mov mov 's most horrific scene the butcher drags a little boy out into the street the grandson of a cleric who gave Chris team information takes an electric drill and drives the bit into the boy's leg then when the cleric makes a move to rescue the lad he's gunned down as the butcher drills through the boy's head leaving him dead in a pool of blood as he shouts out warnings to onlookers the scene is not filmed from a close-up point of view but the suggestion it gives us is terrifying later when when Chris closes in on the butcher we go into his lair a supposed restaurant where body parts including decapitated heads are stored one dead bloody body presumably someone tortured to death hangs from chains in contrast Chris's own work is practically sterile most of his kills and we see many of them are accomplished quickly and cleanly accompanied by a small splash of blood but his work has its own sheer of Horrors his first Mark is a boy about 12 years old the kid's mother gave him a grenade to throw at an advancing Squadron of American Military Chris shoots him once and when the mom picks up the grenade to hurl it herself Chris puts her down two he nearly has to shoot another child who picks up a weapon and aims it at an American column the seil holds his fire long enough for the boy to finally drop the weapon and run away other kills are shown of course course along with casualties on the American side of things one seal is shot in the head the bullet mangling much of his face another suffering a similar wound bleeds out protracted firefights and grenade attacks produce high body counts we see a vehicle drive over a dead body back home when a dog wrestles with a little boy at a backyard party Chris thinks it's attacking he runs over pins the dog with his hand and pulls off his belt preparing to beat the Beast Chris shoots a rattlesnake during training he puts someone in a headlock people are pushed around and to the ground kids on a playground beat each other bloody at a state Side Bar one Macho military guy becomes an impromptu dart board with a bullseye on his back he stands still as his friends throw darts into him several hang in the skin on his back crude or profane language about 100 fword nearly 40 s words and scads of other swear words including a b c h h p and d k God's name is misused a dozen times more often than not combined with d n Jesus name is abused two or three times drug and alcohol content Chris and his brother drink lots of beer Chris and his seal friends pour and drink campagne after Chris wedding and many qua beer as well when Chris first meets tya at a bar she's already had a drink or two and he engages her in a contest involving Shots by the time she staggers out she's so drunk she throws up Chris holds up her hair so it doesn't get covered in vomit other negative elements Special Forces vehicles and gear are sometimes emblazened with the skull of the Punisher a gun brandishing Marvel superhero conclusion you don't become a worldclass sniper without a laser-like focus on what's in front of you American Sniper suggests that Chris retain that sniper Clarity and fixation throughout his life while his comrades May ruminate on the war's purpose and morality Chris simply concentrates on his job as others wonder about what might have been Chris focuses on what is early in her relationship with Chris tement the many missteps she's taken I thought I was meant for something more she confesses Chris suggests there's no point in looking back those wrong pics put you here he tells her made you who you are if we were able to see American Sniper through Chris own lasersight eyes we'd be able to easily reduce it down to its many positives its heroism and sacrifice and strong sense of Duty and family but movies aren't meant to be viewed through a scope they require you to look at everything around you so the story we're given here is more complex than Chris would deem it and more problematic it's filled with extreme sometimes sistic violence presented to illustrate a point but they're nevertheless and it's crammed with colorful language read lots of fword that accurately reflects the way these men surely talked but they're nevertheless American Sniper is about more than one man's heroism in the midst of War it's about the high cost of that war on those involved and it asks demands that we too feel and see if not quite experience that cost more details in my review for Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys from earlier this year I noted that the director didn't really seem to be interested in doing anything worthwhile for his pictures and it seemed like he was directing more as a way to keep busy rather than convey any artistic Vision but Jersey Boys looks like it's bursting with imagination compared to the hollow thoughtless American Sniper the real story of US Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle doesn't question the moral cost of what it means to kill well over 100 people one by one it's not even that the movie lacks Nuance as much as it lacks just about everything short of star Bradley Cooper giving it is all for a soldier he deeply admired Eastwood doesn't cheer even an ounce of that passion as he turns in a movie that couldn't even charitably be described as workmanlike as it talks down to its audience and yet almost consciously avoids saying anything at all after watching the events of 9/11 on TV the noble Charming intelligent amazing Chris Kyle Cooper joins the Navy Seals and goes to Iraq to serve as a sniper his sharp shooting skills attention to detail and quick thinking earn him the nickname Legend as he continues to rack up kills with includes women and children Kyle isn't a monster and these deaths do weigh on him although never in any specific way in between tours he has brief episodes of PTSD like being startled by loud noises but that's all that really unsettles him he's also at odds with his wife T Sienna Miller whose sole purpose is to be upset that he's off fighting in Iraq rather than staying at home and helping raise their kids Imagine The Hurt Locker without the nuance paos and insight and you'll be close to what Eastwood has coughed up here like Hurt Locker American Sniper is a political which is fine except it's also imoral Thoughtless and slothful in almost every conceivable way the only weight comes from the painfully heavy-handed celebration of Kyle's greatness and personal sacrifice like all boring protagonists Kyle's biggest weakness is he just cares too damn much all biopics have a level of embellishment but Kyle is depicted as an American Saint when he gets the call to deploy to Iraq it comes in the middle of his wedding celebration and whether or not that actually happened it doesn't play as real Eastwood may as well have given Kyle the call in the middle of the vows had him turn directly to the camera and say into the phone in a total dead pan I do the bad guys even have their own handsome sniper Mustafa Sammy Sheik who becomes Kyle's Nemesis this is a Chuck Norris movie with all of the jingoism and xenophobia but minus the campy fun what does it mean to kill 160 people and have that as your legacy yes he killed these people to protect his fellow soldiers and he never boasts about it but what makes Kyle special Beyond a number and why did Kyle feel compelled to keep going back Beyond just being such a good guy who cared so much about his brothers in arms Eastwood is completely uninterested in exploring these questions or doing anything more than setting down the camera letting the scene play out and then breaking for lunch Steven Spielberg was attached to direct American Sniper before Eastwood and I continue to wonder how he would have approached this material I assume it would have started by giving a damn Spielberg has been directing movies for as long as Eastwood and directed more films but Spielberg continu to care about his craft he looks for new challenges and won't move forward on a project if he doesn't feel the script is Right meanwhile I continue to wonder why Eastwood directs movies when he steadfastly refuses to give them a personality I honestly have no idea why Eastwood bother to direct American Sniper when he can't even be bothered to find a believable fake baby when Kyle is holding his newborn child the rubber baby looks ridiculous and we've met mastered fake newborn baby technology they're a standard prop they're not expensive how does a serious director making Hollywood movies look at that take and say yep good enough if a journeyman director like John Moore or Len wisman helmed American Sniper it wouldn't be Awards Fair no one would bother to take it seriously Eastwood carries with him a directing pedigree he should have lost by now when it comes to American sniper and all of his films for the foreseeable future Clint Eastwood fires blindly and shrugs about missing the mark audiences should demand a director who cares about every shot he takes a lot of Clint Eastwood directed films are quite terrible I found million dooll baby in Vitus and Jay Edgar unwatchable Gran Torino was made watchable only because it embraced the cranky old man chasing kids off his long cliche so earnestly that its Badness was somehow hard to look away from suly was a weird attempt to turn the national Transportation safety board a government institution tasked with ensuring that every plane train and bus you ride in the United States is safe into a villain and yet his popularity as a director endures so clearly his films their tone content and style are speaking to a part of America that I don't really get with the benefit of hindsight this should have given some warning as to the sandwich that was coming down the pipeline when it was released in 2014 American Sniper blew up the box office it grossed $350 million in the US and almost $550 worldwide it was a runaway hit that found a home in the hearts of America's conservatives the same way The Passion of the Christ did it appealed to Red State Bible Thumpers and jingoistic gun waivers in the Deep South Big Sky Country and appal Lain mountains a large section of America absolutely loved this movie about Chris Kyle the deadliest sniper in American military history and a good old boy from Texas who embodied the spark notes version of American values in the way he could ride fight shoot and drink not only that but he was turned loose in Iraq to wreak Divine Vengeance on the enemy saving the lives of countless American soldiers in the process as he extinguished evil from this Earth he ultimately died a martyr's death not on the battlefield but still in service to his country trying to save those who came back from war it is the perfect movie to appeal to people with simple World Views the movie establishes that Chris Kyle has a black and white sense of morality and it never questions whether he is right or wrong it takes that black and white mentality and reinforces its rightness by portraying the Iraqi insurgents as evil incarnate it depicts Iraqis in general as trustworthy others and more or less justifies Kyle's killing of them in the interest of saving American lives no matter what the film is thus built entirely on an oversimplified usvs them dichotomy and any ambiguity people might have is driven Away by directorial choices the most famous scene in the film is the opening where Kyle is forced to shoot a kid because he is about to throw a grenade at a convoy of Marines the moment is loaded with tension and we are to understand that Kyle was forced to make difficult life or death decisions on a daily basis yet his decisions are always excused by the caveat that killing Iraqis saves American lives the kid was bad and Iraqi so let's not dwell on it this is of course too simple by half it strips any Nuance or moral ambiguity from what is and was in reality a deeply ambiguous and complicated situation it never questions the fact that the United States invaded a sovereign country threw it into chaos and then sent snipers out in its cities to kill Iraqis who opposed the Invaders instead we cheer these snipers for killing our enemies we cheer because the enemy is defined as anyone who isn't us who doesn't love our God or our way of life or look like us a dangerous understanding of reality that in 2017 is becoming increasing entrenched in American politics society and life this is why this movie is deeply problematic it offers a simple binary interpretation of a complex situation and then gos you into cheering for your team without questioning the beliefs or circumstances underpinning their actions and Americans cheered they cheered to the tune of $350 million the media of course fell right into the strap they fact checked the film noting some of its problematic aspects and the fact that Chris had a tendency to exaggerate and fabricate stories while openly referring to the Iraqis that he killed as Savages this is exactly the kind of criticism based in reality as it is that conservative culture Warriors cannot handle because it undermines the Simplicity of their worldview if the impossibly good Iraqi killing machine is actually not impossibly good and if Iraqis do not all deserve to be killed then the House of Cards upon which tens of millions of road kill offici AOS arresting their ideas about life would quickly come tumbling down the fact that so many people did love this movie vly defending it because it appealed to their tribal instincts in a way that was back then not yet entirely clear should have tipped us off to the fact that the national nightmare of Donald Trump was nearly upon us that so many people had either forgotten ignored or never learned the lessons of the Iraqi War and indeed were willing to close tribal and racial ranks behind a simplified re imagining of what happened there should have tipped us off in a remarkable piece for Rolling Stone Matt tabi seems to have had some inkling of what was going on before the rest of us sniper is a movie whose politics are so ludicrous and idiotic that under normal circumstances it would be beneath criticism the only thing that forces us to take it seriously is the extraordinary fact that in almost exactly similar worldview consumed the walnut-sized mind of the president who got us into the war in question it's the fact that the movie is popular and actually makes sense to so many people that's the problem why didn't you warn us sooner Matt T I will say that on the merits as a film Bradley Cooper is truly excellent as Chris Kyle I think this was where I finally realized Bradley Cooper is a deeply talented real actor not just a movie star so maybe that is ultimately the takeaway from American Sniper it heralded the arrival of a supremely talented actor while hinting that parts of the country were buried so deep in their simplistic tribalism that they would be willing to let a fat orange idiot Drive the country into a dumpster as long as he reinforced their world view this film directed by Clint Eastwood screenplay by Jason Hall produced by Clint Eastwood Robert laurance Andrew Lazar Bradley Cooper Peter Morgan starring Bradley Cooper Sienna Miller cinematography Tom Stern edited by Joel Cox Gary D roach production companies Village Road show pictures rat pacun entertainment mad chance Productions 20 22nd and Indiana pictures Mal Paso Productions distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures release dates November 11th 2014 in AFI Fest December 25th 2014 in United States running time 132 minutes country United States language English budget $59 million box office $547.00 million so guys this is the review of American Sniper movie and some information about it how do you like our today's video please let us know by commenting and if you like this video please like it share it and don't forget to subscribe to our Channel thanks for watching