Had I given this choice a little more thought, I would have saved it for Memorial Day weekend. At the time, I just picked it for the 90-minute runtime and the change in genre from what I'd seen lately.
Specifically, it's a documentary about some of the most accomplished living snipers in the U.S. Army. Some may have been the MVPs of their platoons, key to winning battles that were otherwise not in their favor. Others were impressive in breaking records. Personally, I didn't bother remembering their names, because I took more interest in the technical side: physics and other factors to consider for efficacy.
A technical mindset is the best approach if you're not a war fanatic. For several minutes, I grimly thought I was seeing actual footage of men getting gunned down. Then I realized there was no way people were filming real military operations from multiple angles, especially for the Vietnam scenes. Besides, we rarely get bloodshed, hence my lack of an "R-rated" tag. The fact that not everyone on screen is credited as "himself" (yeah, no women) confirms the use of reenactment. Would I have preferred animated segments for clarity? Maybe
Right from the start, this may well be the most frantic documentary I've ever seen. I'm inclined to blame the TV format. A few blackouts suggest commercial breaks, unless they only signaled the starts of new chapters. I think breaks would help for relief.
I have not ruled out watching the follow-up, Sniper: Deadliest Missions, but I've had enough of the subject for now. The mood is awfully constant, and I can absorb only so much information at once.
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