American Sniper

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > American Sniper

Charlz Guybon: Nov 16, 2010

Abu Dave posted:

I don't see a thread but holy poo poo this movie made me sick to my stomache in over patriotism and reckless abandon. If he was such a great sniper with the motto of "Aim small miss small" why didn't he shoot to disarm instead of always shooting to kill?

When you blow your credibility out of the water in the third sentence of your rant it's a sign that you really should put more effort into these things. I give this troll a 2/10

Crain posted:

If you've read the book, Eastwood/the producers actually toned down the Jingoism. The move presents a side of Kyle that is totally absent from his own Autobiography and focuses on it entirely (the PTSD). Funny thing: No mention of PTSD exists in his book. It's not mentioned by name, alluded to, nor is it's (potential) effect on Kyle mentioned. On the opposite side Kyle spends an absurd amount of time talking about the many physical injuries he suffered in Iraq.

I'm going to do a larger write up because I've been waiting for a place to talk about this (that isn't reddit, where any in depth analysis is met with "lol it was a good movie shut up"). There are a number a major changes made between the book and the movie that end up presenting an entirely different person than who Kyle himself said he was. I know that the man was probably a habitual liar, but his own version of his life still matters when it comes to the way the public ends up perceiving him.

I read that they rewrote 70% of the movie after interviewing his wife after his death, and that the focus on his PTSD came from what she said.

Charlz Guybon fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Jan 21, 2015

# ¿ Jan 21, 2015 03:38

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Charlz Guybon: Nov 16, 2010

Crain posted:

It's interesting. In a vacuum I was imagining that this movie was toned down heavily to appeal to the modern view of the Iraq War. The book's message was 100% inline with the immediately post 9/11 view that we had to take the fight to the evil terrorists and was 100% inline with the GOP party line. So I was imagining that it was toned down to get broader appeal. But seeing others reactions it seems that it didn't even get to that point. Even people that fall for the "PTSD broke a humble hero" story line still hate the depiction of the Iraq War it's pushing. So who is this movie supposed to be for? It's not quite Right-wing enough for conservatives and it's still too Right-wing for Liberals. I'm honestly surprised it got nominated for any Oscars.

I think the rise of ISIS from the ashes of AQI and their success in taking over much of northern Iraq and eastern Syria has made a pro-Iraq War movie much more palatable to the general public.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 07:56

Charlz Guybon: Nov 16, 2010

Snowman_McK posted:

Wow, we, as a culture are black belts at missing the point.

ISIS has gone out of its way to make itself as hateable as possible to westerners by publicly broadcasting and boasting of many of its atrocities. It's not surprising that the average viewer is going to identify the enemy forces in this movie with that movement and thus support the American protagonist.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 08:20

Charlz Guybon: Nov 16, 2010

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

The movie sure does take the time to namedrop Al-Qaeda, though, despite the fact that they never existed in Iraq.

Al-qaeda was not in Iraq before the war, however it moved in during the power vacuum and AQI is the group that ISIS emerged from.

icantfindaname posted:

To be perfectly honest the United States needs the experience of a gruesome war / occupation with massive civilian casualties if it's ever going to get the idea of "war is bad" hammered into its skull. The great antiwar works from WW2 are all Russian, German, and Japanese, like suddenly those countries realize "oh, that's what those liberal cranks were getting at, I understand now!!!!"

The US lost over 750,000 in the Civil War, out of a population of 31.4 million. The South in particular was so wrecked that it took eighty years to economically recover. It didn't change anyone's mind on the value of war since both sides thought they were fighting the good fight. I doubt it will change if China were to go Red Dawn on America tomorrow. :rolleyes:

Charlz Guybon fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Jan 25, 2015

# ¿ Jan 25, 2015 12:44

Charlz Guybon: Nov 16, 2010

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

And yes, art is subjective, who cares. If you think this film is well-made, you have poor taste or haven't been exposed to better films. Everything about it is cliche and bland. Some people are going to disagree of course, but in this case I'll happily plant my flag on the same hill as every professional film critic with any credibility.

Has a 72 on metacritic and 73% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (83% among top critics, which is unusual for a movie to have a higher percentage among them).

Who are these hordes of critics that are panning it on artistic merit rather than on the political?

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 08:50

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > American Sniper