Bradley Cooper does a fine job playing sniper Chris Kyle

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2017)

This film is based on the story of Chris Kyle, a sniper in the US Navy Seals who earning to sobriquet 'The Legend' for the number of enemy combatants he killedÂ… more than any other member of the US Armed Forces.
The action opens in Iraq as he observes a woman giving what appears to be a grenade to a small boy; as the child runs towards US troops he must decide whether or not to take the shot. We then flash back to his childhood in rural Texas. Here his is taught to shoot by his father and also to stand up to bullies. As he grows up he becomes a ranch hand and rodeo starÂ… then he hears the news of terrorist attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and enlists in the Navy. He trains and eventually becomes a sniper with the elite Navy Seals. During this time he meets and marries Taya. Then the unthinkable happens; terrorists fly planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the rest is history.
We then return to Iraq and see that he takes the shot; the child is dead but he has saved lives. As his tour progresses he quickly becomes known for the number of enemy combatants he has killed. He is soon helping to hunt a particularly vicious enemy known as 'The Butcher' as well as an enemy sniper who had previously competed at the Olympics. After the tour he returns home but he isn't the same; his mind is still in Iraq. He returns for three more tours before finally returning home to his wife and two children but is still troubled.
Before watching this film I knew how Chris Kyle's story ended but not much else about him; this meant the details that were changed to make the film more dramatic didn't spoil it for me. Director Clint Eastwood tells the story in a no nonsense manner; there is little in the way of gung-ho flag waving nor is there condemnation of the war. Instead we see men doing a dangerous job in a dangerous place and the consequences it has for them. The action sequences are intense, especially the climactic battle which ends in a sandstorm. This scene brilliantly captured the confusion of war as we can hear gunfire but can only see the occasional silhouette. Bradley Cooper does a great job in the lead role; bringing an intensity to the character without making him some sort of super-soldier. Sienna Miller is fine in the supporting role of Taya; showing how those thousands of miles from the battlefield struggle while their loved ones are in danger. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody looking for a good modern war film that doesn't shy away from showing the effects of war on those who take part.