Great performance by Bradley Cooper in a very good movie, which unfortunately came out in a year full of Great Films and performances.

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2015)

To start, this film seems to be over shadowed by the early comparisons to Lone Survivor and with any movie on war people will call it propaganda before in viewing, especially when you're dealing with a controversial figure like Chris Kyle. People can say that this film glorifies America, or that it has strong religious undertones but if a man is religious I don't think it should be cut from the adaption to film. The film itself asks great questions regarding the mental stability of soldiers, and although the questions aren't openly asked you can tell by Bradley Coopers performance that this is a heavily troubled man trying to deal with his demons completely on his own. I don't see the film as glorifying or as propaganda, it simply shows what goes into making these people, the events which started to open their eyes to the path they would eventually take. This film is a lot different than Lone Survivor, which I don't think would stand a chance at an Oscar Nomination no matter how weak the year was. I feel American Sniper could compete and could have won awards had 2014 not proved to be such a strong year for performances and film in general.
Just a side note, I went in to the film not a "fan" of Chris Kyle purely because I knew of him more as a guest on Opie & Anthony. I also noticed how often he'd crop up on situations like Fox News, so my political views are quite different than his, and I'm also not religious. You shouldn't allow these things to stop you from watching this film, think of it more as another Good Eastwood movie with a really good stand out performance by Bradley Cooper.