Extremely
earnest piece of propaganda that demands nothing less than the unanimous
canonization of murdered war hero Chris Kyle.
I’m sure the real Kyle was exactly as noble and pure-hearted as the film
portrays him, but even if that was the case, director Clint Eastwood would have
been wise to exercise an even hand in slathering love and adoration all over Kyle’s
new incarnation in the form of Bradley Cooper.
Eastwood, Cooper and the film they’ve made are all Oscar-bait, which
isn’t a crime, but it’s tiresome, especially when it’s so transparent. The film’s good but it’s extremely clichéd
too. For example, how many times do we
need to see the same scene where the longsuffering wife is upset that her man
is off saving the world instead of snuggling with her, and him not
understanding why she doesn’t get it? As
an actor, Cooper doesn’t do much for me.
He always looks like he’s applying acting class techniques very well,
which I don’t find that interesting. I
was never convinced that Eastwood himself had any feeling about whether or not
this new Super-Chris was motivated by overwhelming patriotism or just loved to
shoot stuff. He is careful to show Kyle
agonizing briefly before shooting women and children, but that, of course, is
the kind of thing that no one but Kyle would know was true or not. I’m not sure if I understood why such a
brilliant sniper couldn’t just wound people instead of killing them, but I
guess that’s why I watch movies instead of planning war strategy.
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