darkhorse85 Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Went to see the movie on Sunday and my wife was asking me questions about it afterward. I remembered I had a picture I took of Chris Kyle while in Fallujah in November of 2004. Not the best quality. Scanner is on the fritz so I took a picture of the photo with my phone. 7 Quote Link to comment
Landlord Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Pretty cool picture man. What did you think of the movie? Quote Link to comment
darkhorse85 Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 It was ok. There were definitely some things I didn't agree with but I'll let Hollywood butcher some facts if they wish. Quote Link to comment
QMany Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 It was ok. There were definitely some things I didn't agree with but I'll let Hollywood butcher some facts if they wish. I'd like to hear more about this, if you don't mind. Quote Link to comment
darkhorse85 Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 The whole Mustafa thing was way over blown. Also the part where the SEALs were talking about the Marines not knowing what they were doing when they had to start going hosue to house was a huge load of BS. I seem to recall training for months on end on CQB and Urban Warfare before deploying. We knew exactly what we were doing there. Also, most Marines didn't have a clue who the hell Chris Kyle was at the time. I only knew who he was because we ended up being in the same spots fairly often while in the city. I also had no idea he'd write a book then have a movie made out of it. I see all these fabrications as Hollywood trying to make a better movie for the public and nothing against Chris Kyle or anyone that helped him write his book. He was a pretty nice guy as far as I could tell. Nothing major, just some things that I noticed I suppose. What did everyone else think of the movie? Quote Link to comment
wildman Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Went to see the movie on Sunday and my wife was asking me questions about it afterward. I remembered I had a picture I took of Chris Kyle while in Fallujah in November of 2004. Not the best quality. Scanner is on the fritz so I took a picture of the photo with my phone. Thank you for your service Darkhorse I almost ended up in Falujah myself. I was with 1st AD in Green Zone during this. Our deployment ended in April 2004 being replaced by 1st Cav out of Texas. While they were taking over and we were packing up. We got the notice our tour got extended to head to Falujah. But instead 1st ID was stopped there on there way into country. We were sent to BIAP for a couple months. Read a lot of the reports of what was going on there. Wish we would of been there to help out. Couldn't imagine how it truly was. Quote Link to comment
Landlord Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 This is what I wrote on facebook about the movie after a few weeks. I'll add the preface that I thought it was great filmmaking from a technique/production standpoint, and regardless of how it might come across to some ears, I have a tremendous amount of respect for veterans and military. “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side. But he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them … Whether such deeds were reprehensible, or even whether they happened, was always decided according to political predilection.” - George Orwell I've been mulling over American Sniper for a long time. I like Clint Eastwood, and respect him a lot as a filmmaker, so I wanted to be in support of the movie. And after seeing it two weeks ago I've been essentially ambivalent, but I've gotten to the point where I don't think I am a fan. Sometimes 'human' stories are great. Especially when they preserve nuance, shades of grey, good and bad in a person, because both exist in all of us. And I really thought that American Sniper would be faithful to that, but I was wrong. It couldn't be more unfairly black and white, and while there are times that I think it's okay to make art for art's sake regardless of what people do with it, this is an instance where more harm than good comes from what's been created, because of how easily it was crafted as ammunition for the types of people who think a criticism of killing or of the system that puts soldiers where they are is the same thing as a criticism of freedom; the types of people who think being in the military and being good at what you do is carte blanche justification for ANYTHING in the name of being an American hero; the types of people who refuse to see real human faces outside of God, America, and family. Moreover, the film glosses over (in fact, it ignores entirely) the real irreprehensible realties of war by focusing on a singular character, and leaving no room for discussion or even cognitive thought towards the Bush's, Rumsfelds and Cheneys who make the decisions to put a sniper on a roof and condition him to kill women and children at worst, and any brown-skinned male at best. Even worse, it's tragically inaccurate. Chris Kyle, the movie character, is sympathetic, morally anxious, and all around good guy. Chris Kyle, the actual person, was a lot of things, including a good soldier, probably a nice guy, but by his own first-person perspective, was not the same as the movie character and was a sociopath. He was a guy that wrote about how killing 100's of people was fun, and his only regret was not killing more. Who brags about killing savages. Who had competitions with fellow snipers, human lives being counted as points in a game. Who dreamt up outrageous and falsifiable lies and fantasies about killing other people. Who lived his life completely in black and white, maybe because he was raised that way, or maybe because he was trained that way as a soldier, because war doesn't have room for shades of grey. Per his own words, “I don’t see too much grey. If I had to order my priorities, they would be god, country, family.” Those are the exact same priorities of the 150+ people he killed. 3 Quote Link to comment
RotoRiot Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Thank you for your service! I believe this movie helps give more insight to what actually happens over there to us non military people. I enjoyed the movie. Quote Link to comment
T_O_Bull Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Saw it on Sunday and to say it was intense is an understatement. As it was in Viet Nam our military can not determine who is and who is not a combatant. They are also hindered in the successful completion of their mission by the restrictions placed on them by who ever is in control of the White House and the two houses of Congress. Did I enjoy this movie? I don't think I can say yes. Am I "happy" I saw it? Yes. I am however much more impressed by a documentary on the History Channel/ AHCH entitled "Inside the Crosshairs." If you haven't seen it its on Youtube and it will give you real insight into what our young men, who are snipers, really do, and the American lives they save. T_O_B Quote Link to comment
Lyons in the Sea of Red. Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 The people who treat and judge a Hollywood funded "based on a true story" film like it's meant to be a documentary <<<<< Quote Link to comment
The Dude Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I was never really a Bradley Cooper guy, but he deserves all the credit he gets for this one. Great job by Eastwood as well, but that's pretty standard. Quote Link to comment
walksalone Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 The whole Mustafa thing was way over blown. Also the part where the SEALs were talking about the Marines not knowing what they were doing when they had to start going hosue to house was a huge load of BS. I seem to recall training for months on end on CQB and Urban Warfare before deploying. We knew exactly what we were doing there. Also, most Marines didn't have a clue who the hell Chris Kyle was at the time. I only knew who he was because we ended up being in the same spots fairly often while in the city. I also had no idea he'd write a book then have a movie made out of it. I see all these fabrications as Hollywood trying to make a better movie for the public and nothing against Chris Kyle or anyone that helped him write his book. He was a pretty nice guy as far as I could tell. Nothing major, just some things that I noticed I suppose. What did everyone else think of the movie? Even though you're a jarhead, thanks for your service... I concur, I thought they sold the Marines short. I was hoping they didn't go overly hollywood, and completely mess up what was a good story. At least he didn't f*ck it up like that Bigelow chick did with Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty... Quote Link to comment
darkhorse85 Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 My god. The Hurt Locker was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I cringe when my friends say they like it or it was a good movie. Quote Link to comment
wildman Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 why the hate on hurt locker? I was with EOD my last tour. Thought it showed very well the stress and pressure those guys are under. When they are called out to go take care of an explosive. The only thing I wish they would of change is showing him leaving the fob. No soldier in their right mind would ever leave by themselfs to search for the child who was selling dvd's. Quote Link to comment
darkhorse85 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 I guess just some of the operational stuff. Like how those guys would roll out by themselves. How all of a sudden two of them became an elite sniper team, hitting targets on the run. I've shot the SASR before. It's not something you just jump behind and start whacking tangos with. Jeremy Renner's character was also a bit out there. John Wayne-ish. I thought he did a good job acting. I didn't think is was an accurate portrayl of day to day operations that were happening in Iraq in 2004 (when the movie was set). The sets were amazinfg, however. They got that stuff down pretty well but the dialogue and plot could have been a bit better. Quote Link to comment
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