American Sniper (2014)
Country: US
Technical: col/2.35:1 133m
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner
Synopsis:
A crack shot joins the Marines after 9/11, and becomes a Forces hero for the number of sniper kills to his name. However, successive tours come at some cost to his marriage and ultimate readjustment to civil life.
Review:
After a number of films engineered to make us feel uncomfortable about our involvement in Iraq, Eastwood signs off his Heartbreak Ridge of the conflict and delivers a soldier the I.S. can't kill, as well as plenty of scenes where 'going in' produces solid results as opposed to collateral mayhem. Leaving that (controversial) aspect aside - the film took $350 million in the US alone, and ranked #42 in the all-time domestic chart - this is an honestly crafted piece of work which nevertheless adopts a solidly conservative worldview, while guarding against characterising its protagonist as a bigot. It is also based on a real subject and cannot risk offending anyone (nor does it demonise the common Iraqi). On the negative side, it has one of the least intelligible dialogue tracks in many a year.
Country: US
Technical: col/2.35:1 133m
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner
Synopsis:
A crack shot joins the Marines after 9/11, and becomes a Forces hero for the number of sniper kills to his name. However, successive tours come at some cost to his marriage and ultimate readjustment to civil life.
Review:
After a number of films engineered to make us feel uncomfortable about our involvement in Iraq, Eastwood signs off his Heartbreak Ridge of the conflict and delivers a soldier the I.S. can't kill, as well as plenty of scenes where 'going in' produces solid results as opposed to collateral mayhem. Leaving that (controversial) aspect aside - the film took $350 million in the US alone, and ranked #42 in the all-time domestic chart - this is an honestly crafted piece of work which nevertheless adopts a solidly conservative worldview, while guarding against characterising its protagonist as a bigot. It is also based on a real subject and cannot risk offending anyone (nor does it demonise the common Iraqi). On the negative side, it has one of the least intelligible dialogue tracks in many a year.
Country: US
Technical: col/2.35:1 133m
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner
Synopsis:
A crack shot joins the Marines after 9/11, and becomes a Forces hero for the number of sniper kills to his name. However, successive tours come at some cost to his marriage and ultimate readjustment to civil life.
Review:
After a number of films engineered to make us feel uncomfortable about our involvement in Iraq, Eastwood signs off his Heartbreak Ridge of the conflict and delivers a soldier the I.S. can't kill, as well as plenty of scenes where 'going in' produces solid results as opposed to collateral mayhem. Leaving that (controversial) aspect aside - the film took $350 million in the US alone, and ranked #42 in the all-time domestic chart - this is an honestly crafted piece of work which nevertheless adopts a solidly conservative worldview, while guarding against characterising its protagonist as a bigot. It is also based on a real subject and cannot risk offending anyone (nor does it demonise the common Iraqi). On the negative side, it has one of the least intelligible dialogue tracks in many a year.