Read the Book For the Whole Story

Rating: 5/10 (1 February 2019)

I was disappointed in this movie after reading the book some months earlier. In his autobiography Kyle is unsparing in his self-appraisal. Kyle tells us from the beginning that he is no hero and certainly no role model and proceeds to tell us why in unsettling detail: an extreme alcoholic with a violent temper, borderline abusive husband and initially a neglectful father, saved from jail time by overly indulgent judges, Kyle finds his purpose and a home as a Navy SEAL. Rather than show us the complete man, the movie is more an exercise in hero worship with typical American war heroics more at home in a WWII era film. It would have made a more complete and absorbing movie with a picture of the whole man as Kyle intended for us in his book. He found peace and was restoring the nearly broken relationships with his wife and children at the time of his death which made his death even more poignant. But that might have been too complex a tale for American audiences looking for a tale of good guys versus bad guys.