“American Sniper”  
Makes History With Massive $105.3M Debut
Village Roadshow Pictures; Mad Chance Productions 
Photo from poster.

This is the story of Chris Kyle.  Husband. Father. Navy Seal. Sniper.
An American hero, responsible for killing at least 160 Iraqi insurgents which saved countless lives of American soldiers.

Bradley Cooper plays the hero and  looks eerily like the real Chris Kyle.
For this role, Cooper packed on 40 lbs.. of muscle and went through Seal and Sniper training. Chris Kyle served four tours of duty in Iraq. I wonder why it’s called a tour, which implies a pleasurable experience? There is no pleasure in this sepia toned world our soldiers were thrust into after 911.

Director Clint Eastwood  shows us a sniper in action. Lying down on a rooftop, rifle propped up on whatever he can find. Kyle is the “overwatch”  protecting  the marines from what they can’t see. It’s an intense job requiring  extreme confidence and belief in your own invincibility. 

Kyle is a man who put country first. Which made life difficult for his wife, Taya, played by Sienna Miller. She’s a feisty one, fighting to keep him home with his family, but knowing she can’t win that battle. Their relationship shows the effect of war on those left behind. 

Some viewers found Eastwood’s treatment to be black and white. Good and bad and not much in between. However, Kyle’s book approached his war from the same angle. 

This is not a piece about the morality of war. You won’t find the hero given to introspection or angst. He’s just showing, “the way it was” for him.

At the end, on a black screen with white lettering, 
“Kyle was killed Feb. 2013, on a firing range while trying to help a Iraq war vet suffering from PTSD.” This is what haunts me. How could a man come so close to death for over 1,000 days and then die in such a senseless manner?

I salute the veterans and warriors who suffer for our freedom. "American Sniper" gets us thinking and arguing about the cost/benefit of war, and for that, I applaud Chris Kyle (The Legend). 
Hooyah