Don't listen to the negative, politically motivated reviews

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2015)

If a review includes "George Bush", "Haliburton", etc. skip it because those fools didn't even see this film. I don't know much about Chris Kyle's history so I cannot comment on the accuracy of his story but what impressed me with the film was the accuracy of combat operations. Eastwood was very meticulous to capture every detail of team operations, uniforms, communications, equipment, vehicles, etc. I can usually pick apart hundreds of details in military films but he did his homework. I even noticed an Army NCO with a 2nd Ranger Battalion tab working with the team on a few missions. Most Directors would have just shown Seals, presuming the public doesn't know any better but SOCOM operations often include troops from multiple branches. Also, from a technical perspective, Eastwood managed to get some outstanding action footage. There were several extended, low light and varying light tracking shots that were executed flawlessly. During the whole film, I could see the meticulous attention they gave to color and light matching. Taking all of that into consideration and the performances by the cast, including non-professional actors, I think Eastwood delivered big time. For the reviews that say this film is propaganda, you should skip those too, they didn't see the film. "American Sniper" clearly balances the hooray moments with the inherent tragedy of war and the physical and mental damage it inflicts.