Very Very Good....but not GR8...

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2015)

Tonight, I sat down to watch this movie with my brother and the only thing I knew it was in the running for awards and a friend of my brother had said he was underwhelmed by it, and thought it "very slow"....
Having now watched the film, one thing I can say is that it is definitely not "slow"....I mean if you are into your James Bond Style films or something with Jason Statham in it, it probably is plodding but that is because of you and your preferences, not this film. I mean it takes place over the course of 13 or so years, and a lot of stuff happens, so how you could describe it as "slow" is beyond me.
I think this drama is character driven, and about what is going on with Chris Kyle and what is going on in his head and his life as a result of what is going on around him. I would have thought that was obvious. I don't think think it's pro-American in any sense really, I think that's all a bit superfluous. I think the essence of the film is about what it means to be a soldier, and what it means to take a life and how that changes you as a person. The army becomes his family, and that world becomes his reality, and then conversely by seeing the affects of war and seeing those less fortunate than himself who have lost limbs etc. he starts to appreciate life again. I don't think there are really any judgments made in this film as regards 911 and the war that ensued. It's a film about a man in that war,the decisions he has to make and how it affects him as a person. The flags and stuff at the end may fly in the face of that, but how else would you end it....The man was a hero to his country and all those around him, but I never got the feeling he felt that way about himself....Over the course of the film, he never acted as such....
I liked this film a lot, but it's not a great film. Fury comes to mind immediately. American Sniper is a better film imho, but Fury entertained me more, if that makes any sense....Gave them both 8.....Hurt Locker is on another level though....