Clint Eastwood hasn’t had a well-received film, while sitting in the director’s chair, since 2009. However, that all might change with his latest effort, American Sniper. The film is based on the story of Chris Kyle, who is known to be “the most lethal sniper in U.S. history.”
Bradley Cooper stepped up to the plate to play Kyle, and transformed himself by putting on 40 pounds of muscle and training with the Navy SEALs who worked with Kyle. The man even went through exercises where he had to clear houses with the SEAL team, and practiced live-ammo shooting with the same rifles Kyle used. Overkill with the preparation? I think not!
Kyle reportedly has 160 confirmed kills, and was dubbed the “Devil of Ramadi” by Iraqi insurgents. This man simply has badass written all over his legacy. The film is based on Kyle’s New York Times bestselling autobiography, American Sniper. The film will be in memory of Kyle, as he was shot and killed at a shooting range in February 2013.
Reading the synopsis, many might think this will be a war movie we’ve seen before, and that would be correct. That also doesn’t matter because it looks too intriguing to pass up, especially with the amazingly tense trailer that was released. Does it remind one of the Nazi propaganda film within Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds? It totally does, but on the other side of course, and that’s all the more reason to watch it. The boy who cried propaganda will definitely rear his head for this one, but that pretty much happens to all war films.
This may earn Cooper another Best Actor Academy Award nomination, and the film seems like one that would also be up for Best Picture as well. It’s definitely not Mark Wahlberg in Shooter. American Sniper hits theaters this Christmas.
This is how you cut a trailer: