DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... American Sniper

Just out of curiosity, have any of you Dawgs read the book and or plan on seeing the movie? If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Chris Kyle is being celebrated as a national hero, something I think he deserves, but my fear is that many of the people bestowing 'hero' status on him are doing so because of his high kill count. Too many facets of American cultures have romanticized the killing of another human being, whether its the 'gangsta life', the video gamer in his mom's basement, the conservative who celebrates the kill count, to the over confident pro-gunner who thinks that just because his pistol says ".45" on the side that he can handle anything that comes his way.

For me what's more interesting than the number of kills is the psychology behind his story. How he comes to terms with what he's been called to do, how he copes with what he's done and the choices he's made, and how he reconciles all of that when he comes home and tries to live a normal life.

I'd say about 70% or so of the book is told from Chris' perspective. Scattered throughout the rest are moments and events told from his wife's perspective.

BY most early accounts the movie is a fantastic telling of his story and Bradley Cooper does a phenomenal job in his role. It appears this is something he's really taken to heart which is a trend I've noticed with some of the other recent movies like this, like Lone Survivor. A lot of times Hollywood is criticized for being out of touch with reality and living in a fantasy world. I think its true for a lot of actors, but some seem to get it. Movies like these aren't about the celebration of the actor. It's about telling a real story in a way that does it justice.

You addressed my concerns I would have with the film.

I'll eventually see it. I'd see it right away but I sorta can't at the moment. I think I'll read the book, too.

I read the book last year, and saw the movie last weekend.

The movie is great. It is more about his struggles coming home and the back and forth of deployment than the war. It does have some very moving scenes of a couple of his kills and some good action too though.

After reading through a lot of posts, I feel my perspective differs heavily from most people on the board in a whole bunch of issues.

I never viewed his heroism as a glorification of his kills, but through his willingness to serve in the most hostile of environments, to put his life on the line repeatedly, and also largely for what he did off the battlefield.

I haven't read the book, but from the highlights I saw concerning the movie, it appears it would be well worth watching. Not a glorification of war and killing, but more a realization of how such things impact a man and his family. Something I feel does get lost by some. I plan to see the movie because of what I perceive as a story that often times gets lost.

I saw it.

I'd say he gets a "hero" status not for his kill count but for saving US lives over and over again. His kill count actually earned him the nickname "Legend" by his inner (and eventually outter) circle of SEAL cohorts.

The movie doesn't focus on the kill count as much as the VERY difficult choices he had to make and the mental toll it took on him and his family.

It's a great movie. Be warned, it has some uncomfortable violence in it - not quite Saving Private Ryan, but along those realistic lines.

Highly recommended. The Ending is surreal.

Plan on seeing it tomorrow. After serving in the military it's hard for me to watch without critiquing everything Hollywood gets wrong. But I look forward to it.

Great Story and great movie.... great man... though he did live in my town so I am biased.

Wont comment on the movie itself... go see it, you will make your own conclusions.

Looks like Michael Moore is not a huge fan:

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/american-sniper-targeted-michael-moore-230120523.html

He is just looking for some attention.

Oh, he's huge.

Just a hunch here....Michael Moore is a blow-hard extreme liberal who would never agree with anything that blow-hard extreme conservative Clint Eastwood would put together. Sounds like political sour grapes.

jc

Moore is entittled to his opinion of the movie and i am entittled to my opinion of him... too bad I cant type it here.

Him and Seth Rogan can enjoy their community circle jerk, we will make sure no one forgets what Rogen said as well.

i haven't seen the movie yet. me and my friends agreed we don't wanna start having flash backs in the movie theater lol.


but this moore dude.....smh. theres times when even though you CAN say something, you SHOULD just keep your comments to yourself. this is one of those times.

Moore is the Liberal answer to Limbaugh.. Both are blow hards, neither really care about what they say they care about. They care about making a buck. They do it by stirring the pot.

I can't listen to either one.

I agree they are blowhards. I don't view it in terms of liberal vs conservative since I find both annoying, and, well...since snipers and service men and women happen to protect both.

Plus, there's just the common sense part of calling any member of a SOC team a coward given their training and experiences.

Definitely one of the better war movies you'll ever see.

I read the book. I'm usually leery of watching a movie after reading the book.

Who here read the book, then saw the movie, and wasn't disappointed in the movie?

Just wondering - I'll watch the movie, but probably not til it comes out on dvd.

Haven't read the book.

TV shows/movies are just never as good as the book. I typically have higher expectations and scrutinize if I read it first.

I'm very picky when it comes to movies though, haven't seen a good one in a long time. I just came away feeling like I watched a great one.

Thanks, good to know. Like you, I'm usually disappointed in the movie if I've read the book first.

Good example is Lone Survivor. Book was riveting.....I didn't want to put it down. For me, the movie was just ok.

I read the book Unbroken, about Louis Zamperini (spelling?) and have not watched the movie as I've heard the movie just doesn't do it justice.

The movie was good. The actual guy in real life seems kind of sketchy.

[qoute]The actual guy in real life seems kind of sketchy.
[/quote]

We didn't get the pleasure of knowing him.

Please elaborate?

I agree. I too read Lone Survivor, and was underwhelmed by the movie. I read American Sniper, and have anticipated this movie, but at the same time afraid of being underwhelmed again.

But the premise of each book was very different. Lone Survivor was the story of an event that happened, where American Sniper is more about a series of smaller events that lead to Chris' reputation, his account for what things were like in war, and his struggles between his duty and his family.

The guy is a liar, and a bad one at that, so I wonder how much is truth and how much is fiction. The Pentagon does confirm his kill count, to be fair.

Either way, I plan to see it.

We didn't get the pleasure of knowing him.

Please elaborate? [/quote]

He claimed in his book that he gut-punched Jesse Ventura after Ventura said American soldiers deserved to die. Ventura sued him for making it up and won.

He also claimed that he and friend set up sniper rifles atop the Superdome during Katrina and killed dozens of looters. He made that up, too.

There was another story about killing two carjackers in Dallas. He claimed that when local police questioned him, he referred them to the Dept. of Defense, and the matter was dropped.

I've never heard of Kyle, hurricane Katrina/superdome.

Did Kyle have that in his book???????? I must admit, I read it while on a cruise. One day was pretty windy. Did I miss a few pages, or a chapter?


Or was it reported elsewhere that I just haven't heard about?

Stories he's said elsewhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morni...erican-history/

Chris Kyle was a disgusting man who celebrated killing people literally. You have to question the mindset of that person, wonder if they should even have guns, and wonder why the American populace is celebrating them.

J/c. Saw the movie last night and was underwhelmed . It tried too hard to paint Kyle as a super All American Hero and although Bradley Cooper was pretty good I just couldn't buy it . I understand war is bad and it is nice to have someone good at it on your side but .... Meh ! To each his own and if nothing else it had some pretty nice action scenes .

Throughout my life I have been very grateful for the veterans who sacrificed everything for our freedoms, even when it protects the ungrateful and their right to be full of it.

I am grateful for the founding fathers for creating a country to which some sort of democracy and freedom could begin. However, I do not condone their genocide, slavery and misogyny that they fueled. There's a difference between being grateful and condoning actions.

So to make you happy, this Country can only go to war if we are gonna be nice about it?

I even appreciate their service when they're sent into battle that has nothing to do protecting our freedoms. They don't choose the wars that our leaders enter. They only serve. I don't believe the war in Iraq protected our nation in any way, shape or form. Yet I admire every member of our armed forces that served there.

He is just looking to act offended and start an argument and I am almost certain he doesn't believe even a quarter of all that he pretends to rail against . That doesn't mean he is ungrateful ( I suspect he is ) or that he is full of anything . He does have a point about the absurdity of a large segment of this country celebrating a high body count without taking into account why our service members are in harms way in the first place . It easier to do that than really question what we are being fed , which in this instance is a big old heaping plate of 'Murica . The dude got off on killing pretty much everything and I don't think anyone other than the most diehard ( brainwashed) hillbilly could dispute that . I don't hold human life in all that high of regard so that doesn't bother me but what does is being told that it was all for honor and brotherhood . B.s.

So you are happy with ISIS? Obama's losing of that war sure didn't protect us, now did it? We went in and crushed the guy who threatened Saudi and Kuwaiti oil, and our economy as well only to leave it all undefended for ISIS to take.

Where is me saying, "Hey, this guy clearly has many psychological problems where he loves killing people. He loves killing people. He really does. He doesn't know how many people he's killed. He just wishes it was more. He, if you believe him (and if you don't, you further have to question how insane this man was), killed innocent people during Katrina by sniping them off the Super Dome. That mindset doesn't scare anyone at all? That doesn't make you the least bit worried? You don't want to question why should we make a celebrity out of a man that loves to kill people? Would it be easier to compare him to Charles Manson? Just because you have a uniform on doesn't abstain you from the responsibility to be a decent human being." equate to saying, "Hurr durr, war is bad."

As always, 40, you miss the point entirely in your figurehead nonsense.

ISIS is a product of the Iraq war. No, you're right, we should stay in Iraq forever. Because unless we do, the exact same thing will happen whenever we do leave. The Iraq war created more enemies than we killed.

We created the instability there and we are powerless to change that. If you can't at least figure that much out I can't help you.

Well we were talking about his actions in the service as a sniper but if you need to change the subject in order to back out of your ungrateful statements, I won't stand in your way for that would be figurehead nonsense.

All we had to do was keep a small force their so the locals would know we are watching. Maybe every couple of years we would have to swat the flies when the got too thick. Not unthinkable now is it? Beats losing like we did. Kinda like we have done since the 50's in Korea.

i was with you til you said that. take it from somebody who's been there multiple times: the iraq war was a waste of everybodys time and soldiers died for no reason. i absolutely mean that.

you do realize that we did leave people there, right?

theres a small FOB in baghdad called FOB prosperity. it's full of special forces, CIA and DOD civilians there.