American Sniper (2014)

“I just want to get the bad guys, but if I can’t see them I can’t shoot them. ” – Chris Kyle

Number of Times Seen – 1 (11 Jan 2015)

Brief Synopsis – The story of one of the US Military’s greatest combat snipers who was inspired to fight terrorism and make it a priority in his life to defend against their tyranny.

My Take on it – I had heard about this movie a few months ago and was convinced that it must be a pure action film and was mystified when I heard about the rave reviews and the calls for it to be listed among the best movies of the year.

I’m glad I didn’t allow my doubts to keep me from checking this movie out.

It chronicles the true personal mission of US Sniper Chris Kyle who trained with the best soldiers in order to become a lethal weapon to be used to help rid the world of terrorism.

I liked the way that the story unfolds and gives us historical snippets of context to frame Kyle’s decisions and quest.

The movie can be bloody at times, but the only blood I personally noticed was the patriotic blood that seeps from the screen ringing the message of freedom and patriotism loud and clear for all to hear.

This is a pure anti-war movie that takes a non-political stance on the Iraq War.

It doesn’t profess to claim whether the war is right or wrong, but rather that it is and shows us the courage of the men and women who’s lives have been changed by it, but still do their duty to their country in order to protect everyone’s freedom.

This is clearly one of Eastwood’s best movies and he seems to just keep getting better as time go on, despite being almost 85.

Bradley Cooper is great as Evans and really gives us the impression that all he is doing is for love of freedom and country.

I also liked how they tackled the issues of how soldiers deal (and dealt) with reintegrating into society after service (and in some cases) injury.

This is such an inspirational story and is such a pleasure to watch how it moves along despite it’s very “heavy” subject matter.

This will definitely make it into my top 10 for 2014 that I hope to post next week.

Bottom Line – Movie that seeps the blood of patriotism throughout while chronically the non-political reasoning behind this great American hero’s personal quest to help rid the world of terrorists.  Eastwood once again hits every mark and gives us a great and inspirational story to watch unfold. Highly Recommended!

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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