American Sniper - Bradley Cooper - Clint Eastwood Dir

ktulu123

This is probably the best Movie trailer I have ever seen(or that I can remember). Very intense scene & makes me want to see more without doing the usual thing of giving away the whole plot of the movie.

It's based on Chris Kyle's autobiography, the most lethal sniper in American military history with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 claimed kills.

Really looking forward to this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MItGoIxoVGk

SherlockWatson

Saw this on Reddit earlier fantastic trailer.

I believe people advised against watching the second trailer as it revealed more?

Corvo

Well, thats looks amazing

ktulu123

SherlockWatson wrote: »

Saw this on Reddit earlier fantastic trailer.

I believe people advised against watching the second trailer as it revealed more?

I heard that too, although I haven't actually seen a link for the second trailer but I am going to try stay away from it

dreamers75

Its based loosely on a true story. Dont think trailers are going to spoil it.

The guy that killed him hasnt been up in court yet.

JP Liz V1

This is a labor of love for Cooper and he looks impressive in the trailer, he cleverly seems to pick only Oscar baity roles now

Corholio

The trailer looks ok, sort of ruined with those flashback bits, a little bit cheesy.

Hopefully Eastwood can up his game from his last few efforts. 'Trouble With The Curve' was quite poor and the least interesting film he's done by far.

Slydice

Looks like it's based on the Autobiography of 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle. His wikipedia article (obviously with Spoilers) is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kyle

Gandalph

I read the autobiography last year and it's ok, I hope they tone down the movie a bit because your man Kyle was a real 'f**k yeh murica' type which I can't stand. The trailer looks good though.

Dub_Steve

Great scene, will keep an eye out for the movie. Bio got great reviews

Roddy23

Latest trailer is out - thought the first trailer was perfect - but now can't wait for the release

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bP1f_1o-zo

Tefral

Film is very like the Hurt Locker in the same vein as once he was out of a war zone he couldn't settle.

Bradley cooper did some job playing him. Well worth a watch!

brevity

I like Bradley Cooper and he's doing a great job of trying out tougher roles. Could have easily gone down a different route after the success of The Hangover.

I'm not really a fan of Eastwood as a director though, he's a bit too obvious in what he is trying to portray and some of his casting choices are awful.

IvaBigWun

I abandoned this after 20 mins. Just didnt grab me.

Slippin Jimmy

Any idea when it's out. Looks good. Bradley cooper has gone for more demanding roles recently.

ps3lover

IvaBigWun wrote: »

I abandoned this after 20 mins. Just didnt grab me.

You made the trip to the cinema than walked out after only 20 minutes? You get a refund?

IvaBigWun

ps3lover wrote: »

You made the trip to the cinema than walked out after only 20 minutes? You get a refund?

I did! The popcorn was lovely though :P

Slippin Jimmy

IvaBigWun wrote: »

I did! The popcorn was lovely though :P

Which cinema is showing it?

DVDM93

IvaBigWun wrote: »

I did! The popcorn was lovely though :P

Finally somebody actually *got popcorn

IvaBigWun

Duffff-Man wrote: »

Which cinema is showing it?

The one in Dallas. Im over here on a business trip.


:cool:

ktulu123

Really enjoyed it! Worth a watch & not a film to walk out on after 20...

ronnie3585

It's difficult to describe how bad this movie is. Fundamentally it's pure, unadulterated propaganda. It was like a serious version of Team America.

I expected big things and was very much looking forward to watching this but I'm genuinely astounded at how bad it is.

D'Agger

Genuinely surprised at some of the things I've been hearing from people about this movie. Personally, I thought it was very, very good.

It's one that isn't without flaws, mainly which lie with Eastwood & how the story is told but I have to say, the characters in it, the dialogue and Coopers performance were brilliant. Even with Eastwoods somewhat poor story telling, in the sense that certain scenes seem to be pegged into the story rather than seeming to fit seamlessly (namely the scene

where the soldier thanks Chris at the tyre shop and talks to his son

- I understand why Eastwood felt the need to put it in, but it just felt unnecessary to me. That said, Eastwood still absolutely nails the intense scenes. I haven't had my heart in my mouth that much since Breaking Bad finished, when it was tense it was unbearable.

The performance Cooper gives as a man clearly under strain is noteworthy and it's another example of how solid an actor he really is.

It's by no means a masterpiece, but for me, this movie has far less pitfalls than Lone Survivor & Fury (just using two recent war movies as a benchmark). That isn't to say it doesn't fall down in places but overall I preferred this to the others - it sucked me in more, it was tense, it dealt with the after effects and returning to normal life brilliantly.

Would highly recommend, 8/10 from me.

WHIP IT!

I really try to avoid trailers because these days they seem to spoil every movie ever... but I had to watch these two after reading some of the comments here... wow, great trailers! I'm looking forward to this but I really do fear it'll be a bit too "AMURICAH!"

Slydice

I liked it.

You could see the influence of Clint Eastwood in some of the set pieces. The scene with the father at the start about the sheepdog, that made me feel.

I've liked enemy at the gates and other sniper films because sniping brings such a different type of fighting into war. It was really well done in this. Cool to see how it may have been done over in Iraq.

I'm not sure if it was Eastwood or just the way the story was written but there was also the subtle lesson of how ****ed up war can be on those involved. He stared off into a blank TV hearing the noises of battle. He almost hit the dog. He would get twitchy about thing. His brother and a lot of others were all giving off attitude like "**** this ****" after enough time. There was the time to showcase the wounded, particularly the limb loss. How fruitloops the guy was talking to his son with it was clearly making him uncomfortable and he didn't want the attention. There was the **** that went on in the interpersonal relationship with the wife.

This was based off an autobiography and yes it did have a bunch off "Murca, **** Yah" but also a bunch of other elements.

next bit has a bigger spoiler:


If that was yer mans life, then that was his life. He was there, he shot a gun really well, his life went something along thoses lines and he is now dead. Film made.

ktulu123

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I'm looking forward to this but I really do fear it'll be a bit too "AMURICAH!"

There is a bit of that of course but it's still worth the watch. I'm a bit of a Sniper enthusiast so I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not the standard war film, it nearly focuses more on the issues these guys have to deal with in the home life.

BohToffee

Amazing film... Bradley cooper played the part outstandingly well.

dreamers75

Good film but couple of things annoyed me:

Its based on the book fine but the chaps life was pretty epic and the end, so it could have focused on him from a different POV.

The parts outside of war showed glimpses of PTSD but never focused on it, because of the end i thought they should have focused on it more.

The end was crap, i know the chap still hasnt stood trial but i think there a bigger story there and Chris helping the PTSD guys and bring them to ranges was rolled into a small clip.

I think this movie should be made from other peoples perpective of him and include the end properly, granted the end is not known at this point noone really knows what happened and why only your man

Still a very good movie tho and Cooper is fantastic in it.

Honey Monster

Meh.

That's all.

Honey Monster

Also:

Murica'

This whole thing is Murica propaganda.

dreamers75

Honey Monster wrote: »

Also:

Murica'

This whole thing is Murica propaganda.

Its a movie based on a sniper who is in the top ten deadliest snipers in history, this movie is his book in video form pretty much word for word.

hence leaving out the "end" which i disliked.

delly

Went into this with some high hopes, but was a little disappointed. I do like my conflict set pieces, but as I watched most of the action scenes, I couldn't help but think of how Black Hawk Down did it. The intensity of war, the tension, bullet casings, blood etc., it just didn't grab the same sense of reality.

WHIP IT!

I have to say I liked it. Cooper was very good. Some really good tense scenes in Iraq... having read a bit about Kyle beforehand though, I did expect it to contain a lot more detail about his 'post-war' life and accomplishments...

R P McMurphy

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I have to say I liked it. Cooper was very good. Some really good tense scenes in Iraq... having read a bit about Kyle beforehand though, I did expect it to contain a lot more detail about his 'post-war' life and accomplishments...

I suppose they couldn't really as a lot of it is unsubstantiated. His claims to have gone to new Orleans and killed dozens of looters during hurricane Katrina, bizarre and if there was any truth to his claims he should have been rotting in a jail cell. I think Eastwood gave his legacy an easy ride

errlloyd

I'm holding back from seeing this, because honestly from what I have read the real guy was a murderous thug. A man who seemed to hunt humans as a game and took enjoyment from killing them.

So to people who have seen it, does this movie glamorise and celebrate his life, or is there an element that criticises it?

FloatingVoter

errlloyd wrote: »

I'm holding back from seeing this, because honestly from what I have read the real guy was a murderous thug. A man who seemed to hunt humans as a game and took enjoyment from killing them.

So to people who have seen it, does this movie glamorise and celebrate his life, or is there an element that criticises it?

It commemorates his life. You could say glamorises it at a stretch. He's seen as a hero by the guys he's serving with - an absentee dad by his wife. The trouble is this is based on a real person and not viewed though the long lens of history as enough time hasn't passed. So its neither hagiography nor hatchet job - but then again he is a low ranking soldier not a political leader.....he should merit neither.
As a movie, it'll pass two hours of your time and I wouldn't get too upset about it. If you like war movies, Clint serves up a decent actioner while showing that not everybody comes back from war with the same mental issues.
As for the murderous thug bit, he was a professional sniper not a serial killer. His alter ego on the other side is depicted in a similar fashion.

R P McMurphy

FloatingVoter wrote: »

It commemorates his life. You could say glamorises it at a stretch. He's seen as a hero by the guys he's serving with - an absentee dad by his wife. The trouble is this is based on a real person and not viewed though the long lens of history as enough time hasn't passed. So its neither hagiography nor hatchet job - but then again he is a low ranking soldier not a political leader.....he should merit neither.
As a movie, it'll pass two hours of your time and I wouldn't get too upset about it. If you like war movies, Clint serves up a decent actioner while showing that not everybody comes back from war with the same mental issues.
As for the murderous thug bit, he was a professional sniper not a serial killer. His alter ego on the other side is depicted in a similar fashion.

Well as a sniper you would expect that he would ratchet up a good few deaths. According to himself though he had shot and killed two men that were trying to steal his SUV. Those bodies were never located though so is something wrong there. Now that could be self defence but disposing of the bodies?. His other claim though is that he went to new Orleans and killed a couple of dozen looters. That is definitely in the territory of mass murder if anyway accurate.

FloatingVoter

R P McMurphy wrote: »

Well as a sniper you would expect that he would ratchet up a good few deaths. According to himself though he had shot and killed two men that were trying to steal his SUV. Those bodies were never located though so is something wrong there. Now that could be self defence but disposing of the bodies?. His other claim though is that he went to new Orleans and killed a couple of dozen looters. That is definitely in the territory of mass murder if anyway accurate.

I don't know about the book....I read the wiki page on him. Seems he wound up in legal trouble with Jessie Ventura as well. I'd imagine Clint just decided to stick with what was verifiable and proven to have happened.

Royal Legend

Brilliant film, very tense, spent the whole film waiting for him to die, did not know the story, did not know the ending, so I suppose it meant something different to me.
The ending was very sad, and I am talking about the "real" video footage at the end.

I have spent time in the states and have witnessed the U S A type, an lot of people buy into it, America is a huge country and some people live fairly remotely and know no different, personally I would not knock them for it, the film portrays this element of American society well. As for being a cold blooded killer, is that not what a Navy seal is trained to be?

R P McMurphy

FloatingVoter wrote: »

I don't know about the book....I read the wiki page on him. Seems he wound up in legal trouble with Jessie Ventura as well. I'd imagine Clint just decided to stick with what was verifiable and proven to have happened.

Yeah I would imagine Clint Eastwood wanted to stick to the substantiated parts of the story. I would say in all likelihood he made up the stories of his time after leaving the navy seals. Probably felt under pressure to maintain an image.

errlloyd

R P McMurphy wrote: »

Yeah I would imagine Clint Eastwood wanted to stick to the substantiated parts of the story. I would say in all likelihood he made up the stories of his time after leaving the navy seals. Probably felt under pressure to maintain an image.

Hmm just watched.

The substantiated parts like when he shot that other sniper from more than a mile away? Eastwood was pretty uncritical of Kyle and American troops in general which is what you expect from a guy so patriotic and republican he probably bleeds oil.

The movie has excellent suspense with well shot scenes. I just don't think it challenged the viewer at all. The Iraqis were completely dehumanised which meant the movie effectively broke down into watching Kyle take down unnamed extras with no depth.

The great villain in the movie had no dialogue, apart from one shot of him in his family home we had no context for his life.

I'd suggest the movie is a lesser version of the hurt locker.

That said, I appreciated Coopers performance, he did lift it somewhat.

Royal Legend

Royal Legend wrote: »

Brilliant film, very tense, spent the whole film waiting for him to die, did not know the story, did not know the ending, so I suppose it meant something different to me.
The ending was very sad, and I am talking about the "real" video footage at the end.

I have spent time in the states and have witnessed the U S A type, an lot of people buy into it, America is a huge country and some people live fairly remotely and know no different, personally I would not knock them for it, the film portrays this element of American society well. As for being a cold blooded killer, is that not what a Navy seal is trained to be?

Watched it again, still gets me at the end, even though now I know a bit more about his story.
Brilliant performance from Cooper.

ktulu123

errlloyd wrote: »

The substantiated parts like when he shot that other sniper from more than a mile away?

It's recorded as one of the longest sniper kills so yeah it's real. 1,920 m 8th one down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_recorded_sniper_kills

errlloyd

ktulu123 wrote: »

It's recorded as one of the longest sniper kills so yeah it's real. 1,920 m 8th one down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_recorded_sniper_kills

In the book he describes it completely differently. It's not a kill against his Major Koenig style arch enemy sniper, he was just taking down a random guy with an rpg.

R P McMurphy

errlloyd wrote: »

Hmm just watched.

The substantiated parts like when he shot that other sniper from more than a mile away? Eastwood was pretty uncritical of Kyle and American troops in general which is what you expect from a guy so patriotic and republican he probably bleeds oil.

The movie has excellent suspense with well shot scenes. I just don't think it challenged the viewer at all. The Iraqis were completely dehumanised which meant the movie effectively broke down into watching Kyle take down unnamed extras with no depth.

The great villain in the movie had no dialogue, apart from one shot of him in his family home we had no context for his life.

I'd suggest the movie is a lesser version of the hurt locker.

That said, I appreciated Coopers performance, he did lift it somewhat.

The dehumanizing of the Iraqis is an angle that could have been explored. He was interviewed on Fox or some such news channel and referred to Iraqis as savages and said he had to view them as such in order to kill them. Overall the film was one dimensional. Disappointed as the trailer was enticing. Anyway Clint gets a pass

ireland.man

R P McMurphy wrote: »

Well as a sniper you would expect that he would ratchet up a good few deaths. According to himself though he had shot and killed two men that were trying to steal his SUV. Those bodies were never located though so is something wrong there. Now that could be self defence but disposing of the bodies?. His other claim though is that he went to new Orleans and killed a couple of dozen looters. That is definitely in the territory of mass murder if anyway accurate.

He enjoyed killing and killed in different contexts, he was a serial killer. I'll watch the movie but I can't understand why people can stomach such a man.

D'Agger

Saying he enjoyed killing is a bold statement, how could one know that unless he's said as much in the media?

What we know is he was a trained SEAL sniper who was very good at his job, granted people tend to enjoy things they're good at but I don't think anybody would enjoy 4 tours to Iraq - I couldn't do that so perhaps I can stomach those who have the balls to do so

That said, I hope you enjoy the movie

Gandalph

errlloyd wrote: »

In the book he describes it completely differently. It's not a kill against his Major Koenig style arch enemy sniper, he was just taking down a random guy with an rpg.

Been a good two years since I read it but I thought his longest hit was some guy from across a river that was mooning him, or am I getting this mixed up with something else?

ireland.man

D'Agger wrote: »

Saying he enjoyed killing is a bold statement, how could one know that unless he's said as much in the media?

What we know is he was a trained SEAL sniper who was very good at his job, granted people tend to enjoy things they're good at but I don't think anybody would enjoy 4 tours to Iraq - I couldn't do that so perhaps I can stomach those who have the balls to do so

That said, I hope you enjoy the movie

It's how he describes it in his book, including using the term "fun" and mentioned how he took valuables from the homes of Iraqis whom he called "savages".

It's probably the only time I ever wanted a movie to be less based on a real story!!

poeticmakaveli

watched it a couple nights ago. I was looking forward to it a while but thought it would have been better! it is still a watch but i wouldn't class it as a very good movie! 'lone survivor' was a similar but far better film!

Looper007

To anyone who has seen American Sniper with some of the reviews on here a bit sniffy. Do you think this could have been a better film in the hands of a younger director rather that of Clint Eastwood?