Good Stuff

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2015)

Directed by Clint Eastwood, the movie tells the gripping and tragic story of Chris Kyle, an American Sniper, responsible for 250 deaths, 160 of which are acknowledged by the American military. Eastwood draws on Kyles tell all autobiography The American Sniper: The Autobiography the Most Lethal Sniper in American Military History.
The movie opens with a young Kyle (Cole Konis), demonstrating a special skill with the rifle, whilst on hunting trips with his father. The movie then moves on several years and finds Kyle working at a rodeo and one day seeing the news coverage of the US Embassy Bombings in 1998. He then decides to join the US Navy, where he's finally accepted and trained as a US Navy SEAL Sniper.
Kyle meets Taya Renae (Sienna Miller), who he falls in love with and marries. He is given his first mission, when he's sent to Iraq in 2001. He finds his first kills, a woman and a young boy, who attempted to attack US Marines with a grenade, upsetting. However, his exploits are soon acknowledged by his colleagues, who give him the nickname The Legend.
Kyle is then given his toughest mission to date, when ordered to hunt down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. However, he finds this mission far tougher than expected and finds himself on the wrong side of the Butcher and pined down by a Sniper using an high powered rifle.
The movies warts and all feel may well appeal to the fan of the war movie. But some may find that some of the material touched upon a little on the sensitive side. That being said, The American Sniper is solid well made movie, and Bradley Cooper puts in a very believable performance as Chris Kyle. However, as you'd expect, some scenes are quite harrowing.