American Sniper (2014)

Most people think so. 79% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics agree, scoring it 72%.

U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle takes his sole mission—protect his comrades—to heart and becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His pinpoint accuracy not only saves countless lives but also makes him a prime target of insurgents. Despite grave danger and his struggle to be a good husband and father to his family back in the States, Kyle serves four tours of duty in Iraq. However, when he finally returns home, he finds that he cannot leave the war behind. Wikipedia ↗

American Sniper is a 2014 American biographical war drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in United States military history with 160 confirmed kills during four tours of duty in the Iraq War. The film follows Kyle from his Texas upbringing and rodeo cowboy days through his Navy SEAL training and deployment to Iraq, where his extraordinary marksmanship earns him the nickname "The Legend" among his fellow soldiers and a bounty on his head from insurgents. Between deployments, Kyle struggles to readjust to civilian life, his marriage to Taya, played by Sienna Miller, deteriorating under the weight of PTSD and his compulsion to return to combat.

Bradley Cooper gained 40 pounds of muscle for the role and worked extensively with Kyle's family and fellow SEALs to capture the sniper's Texas accent, physical mannerisms, and psychological complexity. Clint Eastwood's direction employed a restrained, observational style that placed the audience in Kyle's scope during tense combat sequences while documenting the quieter devastation of his homecoming struggles. American Sniper became a massive cultural phenomenon and one of the most politically charged films of the decade, with supporters praising it as a tribute to military sacrifice and critics questioning whether it oversimplified the Iraq War and its protagonist.

The film earned $547 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing war film in American history and the highest-grossing film of 2014 domestically. Chris Kyle was tragically murdered in 2013, before the film's release, by a fellow veteran he was trying to help.