disclaimer
first, let me be clear:
reviewing movies is like reviewing candy.
movie is a product designed to sell to a specific demographic.
no matter how much whoever (me) tries to make movies ideologically relevant, they are not.
they are as relevant as a candy or any other fast moving consumer product.
someone makes them so they can sell.
and nothing can sell to everybody, so it is only made to be sold to few.
nothing more.
movies somehow do turn out to be ideological when people write review like i do below.
but this has nothing to do with how they are made.
just as candy is not made to change the world, but to make money for candy people.
which is fine (i am too in the candy business).
chris kyle
i read a bit about chris kyle.
in belgrade there is plenty of guys like that, especially after 1990s wars.
high on roids, religious tattoos, did some combat, work or own security company.
every second word is “family”, “religion”, “country”, “nation”.
as kids they were ultras.
prototype is someone like arkan.
only difference is that in serbia there are no mechanism for these guys to:
– count the kills in such a precise and bureaucratic way (no such management);
– publish a book, especially with ghost writers (here you have to write that shit yourself);
– get a movie deal;
– start a consulting company based on “violence does solve things slogan” and actually have customers.
usa is more than 300 million people, so even a small percentage is enough to cover all of the above.
commercial systems with large, unique, and homogenic audience are not available outside usa.
everywhere else in the world sub-cultures are smaller and more mixed.
so basically, kyle is not a unique individual, but the system within he operates is.
put a local tifosi from my neighboorhood and kyle next to each other, they are clones.
so the movie is not a monument to an individual, but to the system.
and i respect that.
movie
most of it is a cheap badly directed tv movie.
there is one “star wars” moment:
a rocket flies by some guys head, same guy shots guy who shot the rocket in the head.
that was good.
the rest seems like it was shot by people who never drove cars or fired guns.
example:
in the sand storm scene kyle is shot in the leg and needs to get back in the van or he will be killed.
eastwood wanted to suspense in this crucial and final scene.
but how fast could a 100 kg man shot in the leg limp – maybe 5 kmh.
yet he still is shown chasing the van which is speeding.
they are screaming at kyle to grab their hand and he barely makes it.
at 5 kmh.
try to drive your car at 5 kmh and you will realize how unrealistic this whole scene is.
then you realize that the whole movie is full of fake situations like that.
star wars seems far more realistic than american sniper.
eastwood just does not have a clue how to create that authentic feeling.
i hated invictus because he did shots next to cape town cafes built in 2000s.
he just does not do the research and is superficial.
simply: eastwood is too lazy to pull off a realistic movie.
and i do not respect a lazy guy like that.
bladley cooper
he did well.
too bad he wasted himself on this character with this director.
i guess he had to take the role or someone else would have done it.
i try to imagine he had some kind of a reason do to such a bad movie.
really bad style
– skulls as logos on military gear – has not been cool since SS insignia;
– calling enemy combatants savages – like wtf is going on with this “savages” stuff;
– whole crusader christianity vs islam undertone makes no sense whatsoever;
– antagonists speak less for about 3 seconds in total.
fall from grace
overall attention this movie and back story got from main stream is very unpleasant.
some examples:
– time editor interviewing chris kyle about his kills as if they are discussing candy;
– conan kissing chris kyle rear.
conclusion
both usa and serbia have following characteristics:
– representative democracy is used;
– free speech is allowed;
– murder is legal and allowed if it is in the interest of the state.
under these parameters it is not strange to have books, movies, and businesses like chris kyle’s.
he is as much a product of above three characteristics as larry flint, isaac newton, or anyone else.
he is actually more qualified to speak of killing than byron.
definitely more thought needs to be given to this.