Strong Performance by Bradley Cooper

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2015)

Many of us met Bradley Cooper on screen as a heavy drinking goof ball in the first of the "Hangover" movies. Sure we liked him even then, the flashy grin, the penetrating eyes, but the role was fluff stuff. Not this time. In about five years he now turns in a riveting performance, much in the pattern of what DiCaprio did in "Blood Diamond", actors coming of age in American cinema.
Of course Eastwood can direct, did anyone seriously doubt it? Gun play of any kind? Heck he virtually cut his teeth on guns. This time the war setting is all too real and the suspense seemed to fill a nearly sold out theater at the 7:00 p.m. Thursday showing.
What's not to like? A few of the scenes here in the States, did anyone edit this stuff? As other reviewers have mentioned, a fake baby? Silly. Couldn't anyone find a real baby? Some of the goofs are distracting, e.g., in one scene Cooper has a goatee, in the next scene no later than a day or two, he has a full beard.
In the final analysis a gut wrenching true story about a brave American who laid it all on the line over and over again so that the rest of us can sleep at night. As Chris says in one scene, "Do we want to stop them here, in San Diego, in New York?" And in some poignant acting, we get a glimpse of the mental anguish his wife lived through in the process.