good movie lousy baby props

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2015)

It was a solid movie. I have heard it was a rehash of Hurt Locker, but I didn't see Hurt Locker, so this is still a fresh movie for me. Basically, as a boy, Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, is told by his father that there are three kinds of people in this world--sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. Sheep are innocent people, wolves are evil and victimize sheep, and sheep dogs go after wolves with a vengeance. The movie follows our loyal sheep dog as he realizes he needs a purpose in life, and joins the Navy to be a SEAL to save American lives. The movie was fairly good, and it's based on a true story, so there is that going for it. There were a couple of issues that knocked it back two stars--the stupid prop babies were so fake, it was almost shameful. I expect props like that on movies from Lifetime, but my wife insists that they use real babies in their movies. These weren't even half way decent props, and were painfully obvious to be fakes. It is almost like they bought Penelope Pee No More at Toys'R'Us and threw it in the film. Hate to be that picky, but it did take away from the film, and thus, a distraction. The other star is knocked off due to the movie looking at possible angles, but then not really exploring them. Chris Kyle was a sheep dog, but maybe he became a little more wolf than dog, and the movie didn't let us see that "wolf" in him for very much. It could have been a full movie on just watching a man with such high ideals for himself lose his way, and then seek it back out. There were other stories hinted at that never really panned out, like his protective nature over his brother, or his father/son relationship with his dad, and so I'm not sure if there is more to the story, or if, in real life, it never panned out, either. If it didn't happen, then oh, well. But since it was glimpsed so earnestly, I kept expecting it to be revisited and resolved, and the movie just forgot about it. Still, a solid movie, and much better than A-Team (Bradley Cooper in that) and I'm glad he decided to act and not give it to Chris Pratt (his co-star in Guardians of the Galaxy and the current darling of the theater). I like Chris, but it was nice to see Bradley shine. Good job.