American Sniper

A pleasantly unbiased, melancholic view of a man who was no great thinker, but who meant well. American Sniper does not glorify Chris Kyle, but rather makes him a sad victim of a cruel war and his own noble need to help others. I honestly admit that I was afraid that this would be the second Machine Gun Preacher, from which I was very sick the other day, but fortunately my fears were misplaced. Clint Eastwood also managed to keep most of the dangerous clichés lurking around the corner, and filmed the story with his usual coolly dispassionate naturalism. My only regret is that the film followed a template that I have seen many times before and that it is not a bit more exceptional in its treatment. But I didn't expect the ending (because I knew nothing about the real fate of the main character) and it really touched me. (05/29/2016)

Biography of the sniper from Texas, Chris Kyle, who had about 150 kills scratched into his rifle stock. Eastwood has become a hitmaker in his latter years (90 million views over one weekend!) and a very moderate war movie director. Not so many kills as such, they are restrained, realistic and not even Kyle is counting (he’s so cool). Probably because we all know what a farce Iraq was, there’s no delving into politics. Simply a classic pursuit movie with ragheads with a polite duel going on in the background. The picture pretends that sniping itself isn’t playing the main role, but in fact it’s a conflict with Mustafa and the hunt for Butcher that help the viewer differentiate between the separate tours. The classic development of the Navy Seals and is all too familiar, thank you very much Eastwood for presenting it in more entertaining form. Cooper is very convincing in his transformation from man to robot and back again, at crucial moments he doesn’t act like a hero, but like a psychopath. His dead soul is visible in his cold blue eyes (that’s why Kyle wears sunglasses almost all the time). Movies like Hurt Locker don’t have this, that’s probably why this movie works much better. Emotions come across artificial, but on the other hand the finale works well, sad, even though the main message becomes a little blurred. P.S.: I’m a great fan of the Punisher, so I seriously enjoyed the scene about the “graphic novel". The armor and magazines with the skull stencil looked damn good. Hooyah! (01/19/2015)

I was expecting that the movie would actually be about something else, but mainly because I didn't want to see anything about it in advance. I was intrigued by how it turned out in the end, maybe even surprising, but on the other hand, Clint can't be blamed for mostly avoiding pathos - except for the actual shots that follow before the credits and during nothing. Otherwise, it is a wonderfully directed film, especially the war scenes are incredible. (01/20/2015)

Cooper aims high; he wants recognition and Oscars. And he obviously tempted Clint Eastwood into this with a high fee. Otherwise, Clint wouldn’t go for it, as the script doesn’t offer much space for his narrative talent (the emotional scenes with the wife could have been done by anyone). The simplicity and straightforwardness of the film, which does not bring anything new under the helmet and relies solely on the potential of the real Chris Kyle’s fate, will delight on one hand (the film engages viewers without imposing higher demands on them), but due to the use of all sorts of clichés and the absence of its own personality (which the identically construed but less oversimplified The Hurt Locker did have), it is not entitled to any Oscars. Unless the Academy intends to openly admit that it is more about politics than movies. The key action scene (Butcher + drill + boy) has masterful editing. But the second half of the movie needs to be shortened. (02/17/2015)

American Sniper is not about physical suffering in the middle of a battle zone, but rather about the diametrically opposed perspectives that the war in Iraq is subjected to, both from the unsuspecting American public and the direct participants in the bloody conflict, as well as the questionable motivations that drive many young Americans toward their dream of "serving the country”. Eastwood works with a very generic cinematic equation, with his protagonist coming into the war full of enthusiasm and patriotic oaths, only to leave as a broken man who has lost his illusions of honour and the existence of goodness. But what elevates the film to above average is its undisguised aversion to jingoism, which is a flimsy band-aid for doing or perhaps returning to evil, the natural civility of emotion that makes the war and psychological levels blend beautifully, and of course Clint's formal genius, which he still retains even in his 80s. Given the many Oscar nominations, one might think that Americans have a soft spot for Eastwood, but watching American Sniper, as with Gran Torino or Million Dollar Baby, I realized that the popularity is well deserved. 80% (02/14/2015)