LF: 'American Sniper' Movie Guide "Family Review" (Warning: Details & SPOILERS)

Title: 'American Sniper' Movie Guide "Family Review" (Warning: Details & SPOILERS)
Source: Movie Guide ("affiliated with the Christian Film & Televisio
URL Source: http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/american-sniper.html
Published: Jan 26, 2015
Author: Ted Baehr
Post Date: 2015-01-26 13:08:57 by Liberator
Keywords: Movie, Iraq, Terrorists
Views: 865
Comments: 1

AMERICAN SNIPER

Content:

(CC, BB, PP, PaPa, FRFR, HH, LLL, VVV, SS, N, AA, M) Strong Christian, moral, patriotic worldview mitigated by strong pagan, immoral, brutal content (including a factual portrayal of false religion where Muslim characters, including the villains, profess their faith), and some strong humanist content includes humanist characters and some characters who lose faith; at least 143 obscenities (including many “f” words) and eight profanities; lots of extreme and strong, constant violence such as villain takes drill to people’s head, people shot through head and eyes, people lose limbs, villain is called the butcher because he keeps body parts of people he killed, boy gets shot, and snipers from both sides shoot as many people as they can; strong sexual content of several implied sex scenes includes man walks into his apartment surprising his girlfriend having sex with someone else (nothing shown but some snide description), man picks up woman at bar and there’s implied sex later, woman comes out in lingerie and straddles man, and man has implied sex with pregnant wife; upper male nudity, revealing female lingerie and attire, woman in bra, woman in panties, but no explicit nudity; alcohol used to get drunk; no smoking or illegal drugs; and, cowardice, cruelty, deception, and evil Muslims.

Summary:

AMERICAN SNIPER is an extremely well made, powerful, tragic movie about the most successful sniper in U.S. military history, who comes back from the Middle East a changed man. AMERICAN SNIPER has a lot of Christian faith and values, but there are characters without faith and values, and the movie contains an excessive amount of gratuitous violence and foul language, plus some lewd content and alcohol abuse.

Review:

AMERICAN SNIPER is an extremely well made, powerful, tragic movie. However, it has too much excessive content that probably will limit its audience.

As a young boy in Texas, Chris, his father, brother, and mother go to church and believe the Gospel. His father says there are three types of people – sheep, wolves and sheep dogs and his father wants his sons to be sheep dogs who protect the sheep.

From his early youth, Chris is an excellent marksman. He’s also becomes a rough and tumble rodeo rider. His brother is his sidekick.

After one rodeo, Chris comes back to his apartment to find his girlfriend is with another guy. He throws her out after throwing the guy out and then goes to a bar to get drunk. There, he picks up the girl who will become his wife.

When a crisis happens in the Middle East, Chris joins the Navy Seals. An expert marksman, he becomes a legend. He shoots men, women and children who are trying to kill the Americans and the local allies.

On the other side of the battle are the Muslims jihadists who are cruel and vicious. One is called “the Butcher.” He uses a drill to torture people and saves body parts on shelves. Chris is given the mission to get rid of the Butcher. However, the Butcher has a protector who’s an expert Gold Medalist sniper in his own right.

Meanwhile, Chris’s wife has two children at home, but each trip home after a tour of duty, he becomes more and more alienated. Eventually, after killing the Butcher and the sniper, he’s ready to return home, but he’s not the man who left home.

A psychiatrist helps Chris to deal with his extreme psychological pain by helping others. Since this is a true story, many people will know this ended up as a tragedy.

AMERICAN SNIPER is in many ways one of the best contemporary movies about the conflicts in the Middle East. It is full of strong Christian faith, self-sacrifice, valor, and patriotism. It is endlessly captivating and full of jeopardy, which keeps you riveted to your seat. Clint Eastwood has done a magnificent job of directing this movie.

That said, after countless killings, even the audience will become war weary, and some of the characters who lose faith and courage will resonate with the audience. This is not an easy movie.

Also, Clint Eastwood has used a surplus of “f” words. Some dialogue includes nothing but “f” words and some other obscenities but no profanities. The movie also contains some rough moments of alcohol, rejection and sex that take it even further into the excessive category than movies like FURY.

So, AMERICAN SNIPER will be a very difficult movie for people of faith and values. It is not a movie for children or teenagers. Please be careful.

In Brief:

AMERICAN SNIPER tells the story of Chris Kyle, the most successful sniper in U.S. military history. Chris grew up to become an expert marksman and a rough rodeo cowboy with strong Christian faith. After marrying his wife, a crisis happens in the Middle East, and Chris joins the Navy Seals. An expert marksman, he becomes a legend, shooting men, women and children who are trying to kill the Americans and their local allies. Meanwhile, Chris’s wife has two children at home, but each trip home after a tour of duty, he becomes more alienated. Eventually, Chris is ready to return home, but he’s not the same man.

Based on a true story, AMERICAN SNIPER is full of strong Christian faith, self-sacrifice, and patriotism. The movie is endlessly captivating and full of jeopardy, and Clint Eastwood does a magnificent job directing. That said, after countless killings, even the audience will become war weary. Also, characters lose faith and courage. Finally, AMERICAN SNIPER contains many “f” words, extreme violence and lewd content. AMERICAN SNIPER is a difficult movie for people of faith and values.

Given the extremely heavy content, probably NOT an appropriate movie to take the kids to.

Audiences are stunned for several reasons. I have not seen this movie but do plan on viewing it.