Don't pay any attention to the politically motivated reviews

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2015)

First of all, this movie tells the story of an idealistic Texas cowboy-turned soldier, wanting to serve his country and protect Americans. Others may disagree with the reality of who Chris Kyle was, but this is the story the movie portrays. The character flaws some are attributing to him are laughably minor and wouldn't have added anything to the film. But it seems if you are pro- America in any sense, and have any character flaws that offend politically correct sensibilities, anything that portrays you positively is disregarded as propagandistic garbage. Regrettably, many are labeling anything that portrays America or American soldiers in a remotely positive light during this conflict, as propaganda, and they're doing it strictly for political reasons.
Others claim this film portrays all Iraqis as murderers and "savages." I didn't get this image of them at all, even though Chris Kyle does use the term "savages" to describe those they are fighting. But it's hard to blame him given the sadistic brutality they inflicted on other Iraqis. He wasn't using the term broadly to describe all people of color in a racist sense, and to claim he was is simply projecting your own bias upon him. Those who helped Americans are portrayed as sympathetic victims of our mutual enemy's brutality. Those who tortured and butchered the Iraqis who helped Americans, are usually shown being shot and battled by American soldiers. This is/was a reality, and I reject the idea that a movie like this should make no moral distinction between our troops and those who mean them harm. What those one-star people seem to be clamoring for is a film depicting Americans as the real villains. Essentially, they were just disappointed it wasn't the propaganda they wanted to see.
The morality of war is complicated to be sure, but consciously inserting an anti-war moral message in an attempt to affect people's opinions, is an act of overt propaganda. This film does show the moral conflict Chris Kyle has to reconcile within himself as he often has women and children in his cross-hairs and must decide. There are others in the film who struggle with the validity of the conflict as well. It also depicts the toll war takes on soldiers who are injured physically and mentally, far from the one-sided, propagandistic message many have claimed.
That aside, I had problems with the script, directing, and use of CGI to make obviously fake babies look real. You couldn't get a real baby for a nursing scene? You couldn't use real drone footage of Fallujah or something, other than sketchy video game graphics? Chris Kyle's nemesis, is often portrayed as a parkouring, Rambo-like character, tying his bandanna while looking at himself in the mirror. All that is just silly. So the film is not perfect in those respects, and those flaws often take you back out of the story you are trying to immerse yourself in. The quality of the filmmaking is on par with Gran Torino. It's a little clumsy, but a worthy effort.
Bradley Cooper does a good job, but is it really Oscar worthy? The bottom line is that the story is compelling and if the events are true, one cannot come away from this film without a deeper respect for Chris Kyle, his family, his service and his sacrifice to save others, as well as for others who serve in the military. Claiming this film is propaganda because you don't like Chris Kyle or disagreed with the Iraq war, doesn't change the reality of the story that this film tells. Was Chris Kyle flawed? Undoubtedly. But good people, like good films, are often flawed.