American Sniper (2014)

Genre: Biographical / Drama
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes
Running Time: 132 minutes

When Clint Eastwood straddles a new project, he does not choose the easiest one; he picks the most ferocious bull in the rodeo and rides it all the way to the end. The man has showed that he enjoys a challenge, and we appreciate him for it.

American Sniper is the true story of Chris Kyle, a man who left the nowhere cowboy life of rodeos and beer drinking at age 30 to join the Navy Seals. He then became the most effective military sniper in US history, with 160 kills to his credit.

Far from being a tribute to war, this film shows the negative effects those military conflicts can have on soldiers and their families. Many other movies have shown the same thing before, but this Eastwood film does it with quite the effectiveness.

Bradley Cooper comes out shining. No wonder he got an Academy Awards nomination for this role. The man has shed his pretty boy image and gained some weight to portray Chris Kyle on the big screen. He is solid here. The rest of the cast also does great work here.

I have nothing bad to say about American Sniper. When the movie ended and images of the real Chris Kyle started popping with the credits, nobody in the theater moved to get out.  Everybody seemed to be still in a trance after watching this great piece of cinema.

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