A solid story based on true events and characters

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2015)

Due to the U.S. participation in Iraq and Afghanistan and related topics and issues, the two last decades have seen dozens of movies dealing with them - similarly to the decades after the war in Vietnam. Not many of them are good, focusing mostly on shootings and explosions, but American Sniper can be regarded as one of the best in its field.
This is thanks to the director Clint Eastwood, and the star Bradley Cooper, above all. Acts of war and human approach are nicely in balance, everything seems realistic, the main character is no dumb killing machine without any feelings, war is not "fun", etc., often lacking in movies alike. True, the movie is practically focused on Cooper's character Chris Kyle, there are no comparable performances, but I could hardly find glorification/justification of the U.S. military involvement in the movie in question - wars are initiated by political and/or economic interests, the military is supposed to obey the orders coming from government departments. And there is no place for reasoning during battles - either you kill, or you / your fellows get killed.
All in all, a serious and solid movie. I liked it more than e.g. The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty.