This is probably the most polarizing movie on my blog yet, if only for political reasons. Clint Eastwood has not endeared himself with the left wing lately, and some have bemoaned the implications of his latest runaway box office success. (I take it as a sign that few modern movies speak to conservatives at all, so they come out in droves for the outlier. That and they wanted to honor the recently deceased, a factor that played no small part in The Dark Knight's success.)
Personally, I was more concerned about Eastwood's record as a director. His films are consistently esteemed, but about a third of them almost make me wish I hadn't bothered to watch. They tend toward depressing themes and don't always offer enough to make up for that. But if I found Letters from Iwo Jima OK, how much worse would a biography of Chris Kyle be? My answer: not at all.
If nothing else, you should respect Bradley Cooper's transformation. He may not have taken home the Oscar as with Silver Linings Playbook, but people who knew Kyle in life were amazed at how convincingly Cooper mirrored Kyle. Part of that comes from care in vastly building muscles but not getting well-toned.
In general, as a lifelong civilian, I found the depiction of events quite credible. Further reading tells me it played a bit fast and loose with the truth, even as told by Kyle himself, but I expected as much. The same problem hadn't stopped me from liking Zero Dark Thirty. Kyle's next of kin wanted to be sure he'd get a nice screen treatment, which explains why he shows more internal conflict about shooting at armed kids than he reportedly did in real life.
So how did I feel about this version of Kyle? He kinda disgusted me. I mean, his brand of machismo makes Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club look like, well, Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club. Oddly enough, I felt better about him as his military career progressed, not so much for showing his value to SEALs and later veterans as for exposing his weaknesses. A recurring theme is his wife and kids wishing he wouldn't go on so many tours, both for depriving them of his presence and for developing a touch of PTSD that makes his presence only so appreciable.
I figure that if you can put aside the slight propaganda, American Sniper is about as enjoyable as The Hurt Locker. Make of that what you will.
No comments:
Post a Comment