American Sniper tells the tale of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL looking to lose his virginity by prom night. No matter how many times he tries, and fails, he just can't seem to lock down that V card. He finally meets a foreign exchange student, they touch, but Kyle just isn't able to perform the deed. It doesn't matter that he has over 150 confirmed kills-- the most in American military history... it seems Prom will end with Kyle still a virgin.
Actually, American Sniper tells the story of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper slash stockbroker who, at night, ends up murdering people in order to suppress his boredom of upper class life. At night he takes his Sniper rifle, invites over prostitutes, makes them clean themselves in his bathtub and executes them from afar and finally runs naked through his apartment complex with his gun covering up his privates.
Only kidding, American Sniper reveals the TRUE story of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper who falls in love with his high school daughter's best friend. Also, he blackmails his boss in order to get paid for not working, buys a classic vintage car, buys weed from his next door neighbor and ends up getting shot in the head by the neighbor's father who thinks he's gay.
Alright, alright. The joke's run out. American Sniper is really about Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper and ex-klansman recently released from prison having figured out the error of his ways. He goes back to his low income neighborhood in order to save his little brother from succombing to the same fate. He understands that there doesn't need to be tension between black people and white people anymore even though he'll always have a swastika tattoo over the right side of his chest.
I was going to do another one with American Hustle, but I'm still not entirely sure what that movie was about. It's funny that I'd choose a movie like American Sniper to parody because after having seen the film, it's really an insensitive thing to do. But, it's my blog and sometimes it gets really boring telling you how GREAT a movie is. And American Sniper is great. I'm so happy that Clint Eastwood is finally back to the game. Bradley Cooper is actually able to show the audience further how great of an actor he can be. I understand how one would have to do a movie like The Hangover after doing a movie as emotionally taxing as this one.
Yes, it tells the story of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper who really does have the most confirmed kills of anyone in military history. He saved countless amounts of lives during his four tours of duty. But, it also explores Kyle as a man. He's quite emotionless and really hard to like as a person, especially as a husband, but he's the quintessential military man. He loves his country. He cares about each member of his squad like a brother. He's a robot in the field, keeping a level head at all times. He hates gay people (okay, it never says anything like that, but he's such a staunch republican, it's probably true). He's the American killing machine. But, he's still human. When he's away from the battlefield, he has post-traumatic stress disorder. He feels entirely guilty that he's willing and able to be out there, but he's home unable to protect American soil. And he seriously didn't deserve what happened to him in real life. I won't spoil anything for you, but I didn't know what happened to the real Chris Kyle, so it was quite a surprise for me too.
Eastwood is on point. It's like an old-school western for the modern age in contemporary times. Chris Kyle is the cowboy, the hero... but instead of perfect and chivalrous, he's portrayed accurately as a human being with flaws. Eastwood also doesn't hold anything back. War is Hell and it is depicted as such in the film. One can understand how a man like Chris Kyle became to be. Seeing what he saw and doing what he did in order to allow us to remain free is noble, but taxing on the mind. And while he may not be the most emotional and personable man on the street, he's done so much more behind the scenes that we have nothing more than to be thankful for him. This is what Eastwood has done. It's his thank you note to a true patriot. And it's a great film to boot.
Only kidding, actually American Sniper is just a song written by Green Day...
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