As a story about a man and his gun, American Sniper shows an innocent whose years in the blood and sand scar him

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2015)

The war on terror has been accomplished by determined soldiers that were willing to stay as long as necessary to put an end to it. What kind of ending was everyone's question, but the goal seemed to be common; kill those with a gun and try to get to the next level until we know who their leader is. One question that we have been trying to figure out is whether it's our army that changes the person or the enemy that does. According to my mother, my grandfather has always been the same person even before he enlisted in World War II. So perhaps it'd more on the soldier then anything.
Like how youths react different to education, it seems to depend on the person. Those that tend to take charge quickly will probably not be as affected by warfare then most. Those that have taken a military job somewhere that's not on the battlefield are more likely to feel something should something happen. The front line infantry however is a different story. The folk here usually join because they need a sense of direction that they didn't receive in life. One such guy is the result in American Sniper.
Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper) proudly enlists in the U.S. Navy after seeing the 1998 embassy bombings. His experience in handling a rifle gets him into SEAL training where he becomes a SEAL sniper. Before shipping out, he meets a young woman Taya Renae (played by Sienna Miller) who warms up to the guy and marries him just as fast. Even with the training, his personality seems unchanged that is until he carries through his first set of kills; a woman and a boy who were ready to take out a tank with a grenade launcher.
He earns the nickname "legend" due to his many kills that he continues to rank up. The catch here now is that he returns home a new man. His happiness is short lived as he spends a lot of time watching war footage from the news and even starts arguments over that with his wife over it. He takes on several tours of duty which originally start out as true reasons (wanted to help his brother or catching a deadly terrorist) but seems to take a forth one just because. He grows increasingly distant from his family as the only thing that seems to be real is what he's targeting.
American Sniper is based of the famous memoir of the same name and though I haven't read it, my dad was with me at the screening and claims that it's pretty close. That's something that I should expect out of director Clint Eastwood who tends to do well with the dark side of humanity while still staying traditional. American Sniper relays both elements that seem to show Chris Kyle as war hero while properly showing the affect of his duty.
Bradley Cooper is perfectly casted into this man's role that show him playing both the war torn military guy, but also the innocent of who he is before the guns changed him.
I should warn most that while the movie is great, it is not for those that are prone to violence and blood. This goes beyond a couple of guying getting shot down as we see their scarred faces and even the torture of women and children. I guarantee that this is what probably went on over in the Middle East and Eastwood knew how to shot it (especially through an impressive sandstorm sequence that I will not dare spoil
I'll give this nine Special Warfare insignias out of ten. American Sniper says a lot about those that have gone over to Afghanistan and Iraq and may make a good companion piece to Zero Dark Thirty. I your ready to dwell into a world of sand and blood, then get ready to deploy.