Not bad... But definitely not good either

Rating: Null/10 (27 February 2015)

I came to the movie theater, expecting 'murican propaganda... This movie actually surprised me. It surprises me even more because it's Clint Eastwood behind the camera.
Now, let me tell you why it's definitely not American army propaganda, and at the same time, we will encounter some of the weakness of the flick.
1) The idiotic motivation of the main character to go to Iraq. He decides to go serve his country for obscure, unclear reasons : "Oh my gawd, terrorists are frightening, I best go to Iraq to kill them all". It makes little to no sense and to me, it's satirical. Otherwise, it's stupid.
2) 1000 days spent looking for a few guys. American troops at their weakest. No efficiency, the main character even get grounded at one point of the movie. They don't know what they do and where the villains are. They waste time and money. And it makes to movie kind of repetitive : looking for the bad guys, go home, looking for the bad guys, go home etc.
3) Does he even have a family ? We know little about his wife and kids, nothing about his parents. By the way, the wife and kids are here because they have to, because C. Kyle had a wife and children, not because they were necessary to the story. He focuses on war, war, war. Even home, all he cares about is war.
4) All war and no play makes Chris a mad boy. It becomes more and more crazy towards the end of the movie. He doesn't talk to his wife, he almost killed a dog, his blood pressure is insane. This is for me, the best part of the movie. It shows what effects war has on a human being, and what he becomes because of that. It also shows what extremes they have to face. For example (it's in the trailer), when his hesitate to shoot on a boy trying to lift and fire a RPG launcher at his colleagues. The character is also hunted by all the people he could not save, rather than those he killed. For me, the psychological aspect of Chris Kyle is the best part of the movie. Too bad it's so little of it.
What more can I say ? Flaws : Iraqi people are not even considered human beings, rather targets or enemies. Plus, Chris says himself that the US are the good guy and the Iraqi are the bad guys. Thus, disregarding the fact that the US army is a total intruder to the Iraqi soil.
The whole flash back at the beginning, when he hunts with his dad : pointless. Adds nothing to the story, means nothing. - The action's repetitive and therefore tasteless.
The whole "Chris Kyle is a legend" thing is too much
Now, I'll finish this review with what I liked : Bradley Cooper is one hell of an actor. He is the best C. Kyle I could ever think of.
As I already said before, the whole psychological aspect of C. Kyle is really interesting, and I wanted more of that in the movie.
Not a bad flick, overall. But if you want to see a great, satirical war movie, watch Full Metal Jacket.