Hold on till the end

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2015)

I must admit that the first hour and a half was a bit of a pain, and I really wasn't getting into the groove of watching the movie. I felt bored and I kept looking at my watch. For me it was just another American movie who glorifies their soldiers who are sent to foreign countries to eradicate evil from the planet. A typical American film where their soldiers are portrayed to being just and honorable under any circumstance. Yes, you could say this is not totally true as Bradley Cooper is seen shooting kids several times, which is hardly a honorable thing to do. But even then, the director manages to make the Afghans look more evil than Americans when one of their leaders kidnaps a kid and puts a drill through his head to kill him. Pretty graphic I must say.
The thing is that after that hour and a half, Bradley Cooper finally comes home. Unfortunately, the war has taken a toll on him. It's hard to say whether or not he is mentally deranged, but you feel his family is not completely safe around him. For me, the last few minutes were the interesting ones (along with a few minutes where you see the ability of the Sniper in the battlefield).
Without the last half and hour, I don't think I would have rated the movie with more than a 5. But since it managed to make me feel emotional at the end, I have to give it a 7, which I think is about right overall. Enjoy!