• Another worthy entry i(n a long line of them) on violence from auteur Clint Eastwood—this would be the start of his hero trilogy followed by Sully and then The 15:17 to Paris (which I haven’t seen yet)
  • Starts out with some myth-making like Sergeant York from Hawks in 1941 (or even like The Natural or the spoof of that in Kingpin) father says “you’ve got a gift” and then the sheep dog speech
  • Bradley Cooper is superb here- weight gain- you can see it in the face
  • Overall the reviews were positive but most of the negative seemed to be agenda driven—saying the film didn’t make a statement— that’s inconsequential on art—hurt locker (which they loved) didn’t have a statement—this is not as good as that film though- I’ll say that
  • Starts out with a black and white take on evil—but there’s questioning from the nervous shell-shocked brother and the friend even if the Kyle character himself really doesn’t
  • Profoundly sad ending
  • Scenes of unbelievable tension and intensity- opening sequence (narrative flash forward) and then the drill used to murder a child, shouting, the german shepard, the enemy sniper…
  • The famous fake baby scene is brutal—you can see Cooper moving the baby’s arm, it’s clearly fake- this is 80 year old “one-take” Eastwood moving too fast. It’s a major flaw—put a real baby in the scene—poor Sienna Miller and Cooper
  • Speaking of Miller- it’s a thankless and weak role/character/performance
  • It’s not a tone-deaf anthem and praise-fest to a war hero like say the fake german movie in Tarantino’s inglorious bastards­- though- the doc footage ending of the funeral places it as a tribute
  • Recommend