American Sniper

News, Reviews & Features
  • 11 ways Clint Eastwood's American Sniper embellished the truth

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 21st January 2015

    Clint Eastwood's military biopic American Sniper tore through cinemas in the red states last week to break January box-office records, making military supporters fire their guns in the air in celebration. However, questions remain over the movie's accuracy, following accusations that the movie's subject, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, was a fantasist (he claimed he shot and killed two carjackers and that police covered it up, and that he picked off looters during Hurricane Katrina; neither incidents were ever confirmed). Eastwood's movie makes no mention of these events, so what other inconvenient truths does the movie ignore?

  • American Sniper

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 13th January 2015

    Oh, great. This should help smooth things out. While I wouldn't support the action, I'm surprised to have heard no calls to postpone the release of American Sniper. Here's a portrait, entirely unshaded by grey, of a US Navy SEAL who claims more confirmed kills than any other sniper in US military history, all of them in Iraq. There are interesting questions about the morality of this, given how many more lives he likely saved, about the effect it had on him, and about the implications of American occupation in the Middle East. Clint Eastwood isn't terribly interested in asking them, though. While this is an effective and very watchable war movie, it's as uncomplicated as it gets.