American Sniper

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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This is a pretty stunning movie- and probably the best movie I've seen all year. More biopic than war movie, Clint Eastwood really delivers an epic tale of "The Legend" who had 160 confirmed kills during 4 tours in the Iraq War. Bradley Cooper was phenomenal- easily delivers the Oscar consideration.

As far as the Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty comparison, I think this is the best of the three as it really developed Chris Kyl's character more and had an emotional edge that the others did not. And the "ok corral" scene near the end was just perfectly executed- but appropriately isn't where the movie ended.

Well done, Clint, on the superb movie and directing.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
This is a pretty stunning movie- and probably the best movie I've seen all year. More biopic than war movie, Clint Eastwood really delivers an epic tale of "The Legend" who had 160 confirmed kills during 4 tours in the Iraq War. Bradley Cooper was phenomenal- easily delivers the Oscar consideration.

As far as the Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty comparison, I think this is the best of the three as it really developed Chris Kyl's character more and had an emotional edge that the others did not. And the "ok corral" scene near the end was just perfectly executed- but appropriately isn't where the movie ended.

Well done, Clint, on the superb movie and directing.

How much weight do you think Bradley Cooper gained for the role

I do agree that this film is the best of the three. You have to wonder how those vets returned home and weren't affected in some way such as PTSD

And to see him take his son hunting for the first time brought the wheel full circle just as his dad did with him. And when he said to his son about stopping a beating heart in a living person was food for thought

Or how about picking off "the butcher" from 1900 yards away. That's marksmanship.

We saw it yesterday at mid afternoon and the theater was packed


The other amazing thing about the movie was everyone gave a standing applause at the end but the somberness of the silence of the rolling credits was actually deafening. Great effect for a movie such as this
 

mauidan

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Aug 2, 2010
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How much weight do you think Bradley Cooper gained for the role

I do agree that this film is the best of the three. You have to wonder how those vets returned home and weren't affected in some way such as PTSD

And to see him take his son hunting for the first time brought the wheel full circle just as his dad did with him. And when he said to his son about stopping a beating heart in a living person was food for thought

Or how about picking off "the butcher" from 1900 yards away. That's marksmanship.

We saw it yesterday at mid afternoon and the theater was packed


The other amazing thing about the movie was everyone gave a standing applause at the end but the somberness of the silence of the rolling credits was actually deafening. Great effect for a movie such as this

I don't think he gained enough weight, muscle or talent to win the Oscar.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I don't think he gained enough weight, muscle or talent to win the Oscar.

I agree Dan. Nonetheless a very very good movie

BTW Keith, in addition to the other 2 movies that you mentioned, one other to consider in the same genre would be Blackhawk Down
 

jazdoc

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Aug 7, 2010
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Saw American Sniper this evening. Theater was packed and after applauding, audience filed out in complete silence. Great movie, excellent direction, and superb acting by Bradley Cooper. Has virtually no chance to win any significant Academy Awards.
 

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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It's killing the box office- going to break the January record and could hit $100 million after the holiday. I expect word of mouth is going to be considerable.

I thought Boyhood was the most overrated movie of the year. And I grew up in most of the places they went :) Arquette was quite good though.
 

es347

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Apr 20, 2010
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Lone Survivor should be added to the list of comparisons. The Marcus Lattrell story was a similar snapshot of another hero's experiences.

Lee

+1
 

scouter

Member Sponsor
Oct 30, 2012
241
4
0
Wrightsville Beach, NC
How much weight do you think Bradley Cooper gained for the role

I do agree that this film is the best of the three. You have to wonder how those vets returned home and weren't affected in some way such as PTSD

And to see him take his son hunting for the first time brought the wheel full circle just as his dad did with him. And when he said to his son about stopping a beating heart in a living person was food for thought

Or how about picking off "the butcher" from 1900 yards away. That's marksmanship.

We saw it yesterday at mid afternoon and the theater was packed


The other amazing thing about the movie was everyone gave a standing applause at the end but the somberness of the silence of the rolling credits was actually deafening. Great effect for a movie such as this
Interesting response here in the south after the movie ended. COMPLETE silence! I think we all were reflecting on the tremendous sacrifice our troops AND THEIR FAMILY make for us to be living free in the USA. I told my wife I'm going to stop complaining about all the taxes we pay- sure a lot of government waste, but all in all, makes you thankful for our troops!
 

still-one

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Aug 6, 2012
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Much the same reaction that others have in a surprisingly pretty full theater for a 11am showing today. A smattering of applause followed by almost complete silence as we exited the theater. Eastwood again show why he is one of the top directors in Hollywood. While tihs may not be up to the level of Flags of Our Fathers or Letters From Iwo Jima I did enjoy it quite a bit.

I heard Cooper added 40 pounds for the role. He noted it is not coming off as quick as he added it.
 

Peter Breuninger

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Jul 20, 2010
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I'm trying to twist Terry's arm to see it on our local IMAX.
 

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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Encino, CA
Much the same reaction that others have in a surprisingly pretty full theater for a 11am showing today. A smattering of applause followed by almost complete silence as we exited the theater. Eastwood again show why he is one of the top directors in Hollywood. While tihs may not be up to the level of Flags of Our Fathers or Letters From Iwo Jima I did enjoy it quite a bit.

I heard Cooper added 40 pounds for the role. He noted it is not coming off as quick as he added it.

i read he ate 8,000 calories a day.
 

Whatmore

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
1,011
2
438
Melbourne, Australia
Interesting review here:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/01/new-film-american-sniper

CHRIS KYLE is officially “the most lethal sniper in US history”, having killed 160 people while serving as a Navy SEAL in Iraq. With a CV like that, it’s understandable that someone should have made a film about him. But the question must be asked: does the statistic make Kyle an interesting person with an interesting story? Is he more worthy of a biopic than, say, a sniper who killed 100 people, or 50, or five? If “American Sniper” is anything to go by, the answer is no. But that may say more about the film-maker, Clint Eastwood.

Nearly a decade ago, Mr Eastwood’s “Flags Of Our Fathers” questioned the lionising of American military heroes. But his new film, with a screenplay by Jason Hall adapted from Kyle’s autobiography, is a more straightforward enterprise. It’s a respectful biopic with nail-biting moments, but it seems ploddingly workmanlike in comparison with the film it most resembles, “The Hurt Locker”.

Initially, it promises to stand out from its predecessors. In an early scene, we see Kyle as a boy in Texas, being taught by his father that the world is divided into sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. Sheepdogs are those who have been given “the gift of aggression”—not a phrase you would hear in many Hollywood biopics. When we meet Kyle again as an adult (powerfully played by Bradley Cooper), he has taken his father’s lessons to heart. While working as a rodeo rider in 1998, he learns of the American embassy bombings and immediately volunteers for the SEALs. America is “the greatest country on Earth, and I’ll do whatever I can to protect it,” he tells the recruiting officer. Besides, he likes to fight. Soon, he is lying on rooftops in Iraq, picking off insurgents, and earning the nickname “Legend”.

In these scenes, Kyle is established as being far more gung-ho and right-wing than the typical big-screen soldier. He is remorselessly violent and unquestioningly patriotic. In most Hollywood films, he would be the villain, not the hero. But before long, “American Sniper” backs away from that portrayal, and settles into a rut that has been dug by countless previous war movies. Once again, there are the sado-masochistic training sequences and the echoing shouts of “Hoo-rah!” There is Kyle’s loyal-but-nagging wife (Sienna Miller), who has to deliver a variation on the same tired speech every time her husband is home: “Even when you’re here, you’re not here…I need you to be human again.” There is the comrade-in-arms who tells Kyle that he has just got engaged—a sure sign that he is going to be fatally wounded seconds later. And there is Kyle himself. He is a committed soldier, but he is also troubled by what his job entails, and he is happy to leave Iraq and return to the bosom of his family. In other words, he is a conventional war-movie hero.

A quick flick through Kyle’s best-selling autobiography is enough to demonstrate how much stronger and stranger the film might have been. “I loved what I did,” he writes in its introduction. “I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” When he is with his wife and children, he confesses, he wanted to be back in Iraq: “I missed the excitement and the thrill. I loved killing bad guys.” And he recounts those killings with jaw-dropping callousness. Once, he recalls, he fired on two suspected insurgents on a moped. “It was like a scene from ‘Dumb and Dumber’. The bullet went through the first guy and into the second…Two guys with one shot. The taxpayer got good bang for his buck on that one.” He also admits that “there was a bit of a competition between myself and some of the other snipers” to see who could dispatch the most Iraqis. “If you’re interested,” he adds, “the confirmed kills were only kills that someone else witnessed, and cases where the enemy could be confirmed dead. So if I shot someone in the stomach and he managed to crawl around where we couldn’t see him before he bled out, he didn’t count.” So now you know.

Depending on your perspective, Kyle was either a dedicated, level-headed warrior, or he was a sociopathic monster. Either way, his autobiography contains a rarely spoken truth: that some people really, really like to go to war. It’s a truth that is fudged in the film. The onscreen Kyle states that it is his duty to kill Iraqis, but he doesn’t enjoy it, and the strain on Mr Cooper’s face never lets us forget his pain and doubt. Moreover, the big-screen Kyle is embarrassed by any mention of his record-breaking body-count, and he certainly isn’t in “competition” with his peers. Presumably, the film-makers wanted their Kyle to be more rounded and sympathetic than the one in the autobiography, but they have done the real man—and themselves—a disservice by smoothing off the very edges that made him so fascinating. A film about a natural born killer might have been uncomfortable viewing, but it would also have been daring and revelatory. Instead, Mr Eastwood gives us an “American Sniper” that’s firing blanks.
 

jadis

Well-Known Member
Apr 28, 2010
12,352
5,462
2,810
Manila, Philippines
Beautiful movie and absolutely gut wrenching drama in the war zone. Cooper is very versatile as a actor, from comedy to drama. I wouldn't have recognized him if I hadn't know that he was starring in the movie. Then read a news item that the movie might impede in the trial of Chris Kyle's killer. And even more interesting, found a Wiki article that mentions Kyle's estate was sued by ex Gov Jesse Ventura and Ventura won.
 

Whatmore

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
1,011
2
438
Melbourne, Australia
Beautiful movie and absolutely gut wrenching drama in the war zone. Cooper is very versatile as a actor, from comedy to drama. I wouldn't have recognized him if I hadn't know that he was starring in the movie. Then read a news item that the movie might impede in the trial of Chris Kyle's killer. And even more interesting, found a Wiki article that mentions Kyle's estate was sued by ex Gov Jesse Ventura and Ventura won.

Yes it does appear that some of his claims may be a little, shall we say, confabulated
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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405
Interesting review here:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2015/01/new-film-american-sniper

CHRIS KYLE is officially “the most lethal sniper in US history”, having killed 160 people while serving as a Navy SEAL in Iraq. With a CV like that, it’s understandable that someone should have made a film about him. But the question must be asked: does the statistic make Kyle an interesting person with an interesting story? Is he more worthy of a biopic than, say, a sniper who killed 100 people, or 50, or five? If “American Sniper” is anything to go by, the answer is no. But that may say more about the film-maker, Clint Eastwood.

Nearly a decade ago, Mr Eastwood’s “Flags Of Our Fathers” questioned the lionising of American military heroes. But his new film, with a screenplay by Jason Hall adapted from Kyle’s autobiography, is a more straightforward enterprise. It’s a respectful biopic with nail-biting moments, but it seems ploddingly workmanlike in comparison with the film it most resembles, “The Hurt Locker”.

Initially, it promises to stand out from its predecessors. In an early scene, we see Kyle as a boy in Texas, being taught by his father that the world is divided into sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. Sheepdogs are those who have been given “the gift of aggression”—not a phrase you would hear in many Hollywood biopics. When we meet Kyle again as an adult (powerfully played by Bradley Cooper), he has taken his father’s lessons to heart. While working as a rodeo rider in 1998, he learns of the American embassy bombings and immediately volunteers for the SEALs. America is “the greatest country on Earth, and I’ll do whatever I can to protect it,” he tells the recruiting officer. Besides, he likes to fight. Soon, he is lying on rooftops in Iraq, picking off insurgents, and earning the nickname “Legend”.

In these scenes, Kyle is established as being far more gung-ho and right-wing than the typical big-screen soldier. He is remorselessly violent and unquestioningly patriotic. In most Hollywood films, he would be the villain, not the hero. But before long, “American Sniper” backs away from that portrayal, and settles into a rut that has been dug by countless previous war movies. Once again, there are the sado-masochistic training sequences and the echoing shouts of “Hoo-rah!” There is Kyle’s loyal-but-nagging wife (Sienna Miller), who has to deliver a variation on the same tired speech every time her husband is home: “Even when you’re here, you’re not here…I need you to be human again.” There is the comrade-in-arms who tells Kyle that he has just got engaged—a sure sign that he is going to be fatally wounded seconds later. And there is Kyle himself. He is a committed soldier, but he is also troubled by what his job entails, and he is happy to leave Iraq and return to the bosom of his family. In other words, he is a conventional war-movie hero.

A quick flick through Kyle’s best-selling autobiography is enough to demonstrate how much stronger and stranger the film might have been. “I loved what I did,” he writes in its introduction. “I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” When he is with his wife and children, he confesses, he wanted to be back in Iraq: “I missed the excitement and the thrill. I loved killing bad guys.” And he recounts those killings with jaw-dropping callousness. Once, he recalls, he fired on two suspected insurgents on a moped. “It was like a scene from ‘Dumb and Dumber’. The bullet went through the first guy and into the second…Two guys with one shot. The taxpayer got good bang for his buck on that one.” He also admits that “there was a bit of a competition between myself and some of the other snipers” to see who could dispatch the most Iraqis. “If you’re interested,” he adds, “the confirmed kills were only kills that someone else witnessed, and cases where the enemy could be confirmed dead. So if I shot someone in the stomach and he managed to crawl around where we couldn’t see him before he bled out, he didn’t count.” So now you know.

Depending on your perspective, Kyle was either a dedicated, level-headed warrior, or he was a sociopathic monster. Either way, his autobiography contains a rarely spoken truth: that some people really, really like to go to war. It’s a truth that is fudged in the film. The onscreen Kyle states that it is his duty to kill Iraqis, but he doesn’t enjoy it, and the strain on Mr Cooper’s face never lets us forget his pain and doubt. Moreover, the big-screen Kyle is embarrassed by any mention of his record-breaking body-count, and he certainly isn’t in “competition” with his peers. Presumably, the film-makers wanted their Kyle to be more rounded and sympathetic than the one in the autobiography, but they have done the real man—and themselves—a disservice by smoothing off the very edges that made him so fascinating. A film about a natural born killer might have been uncomfortable viewing, but it would also have been daring and revelatory. Instead, Mr Eastwood gives us an “American Sniper” that’s firing blanks.

I will go see this movie today and will keep this article in mind.
 

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