American Sniper starring Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood is one of the hottest movies out in theaters right now and might be the biggest R-rated movie of all time; it is already the 9^th largest grossing R-rated film only two weeks after its release date. In addition, the movie is receiving tons of press, some good and some bad. Many news articles and movie critics have applauded American Sniper for showing the more human side behind our Navy Seal war machines. However, the movie has caused uproar from leftwing extremists complaining about the film. But get this, after watching the movie Michael Moore had the audacity to openly call snipers in the military “cowards.” While I could make this a rant about how much I disagree with Michael Moore and come up with very creative suggestions of places he can shove his opinion up, I will refrain from doing so.

 For those of you Bradley Cooper fans out there, I’m going to give you a heads up, this isn’t the handsome clean looking Bradley Cooper that you are used to. This is the down South, brass pumping, dip spitting, one-third cowboy, one-third Navy Seal, one-third grizzly man version of the revered actor. To play the role of Navy Seal, Chris Kyle, Cooper had to put on 40 pounds of muscle, eating around 8,000 calories everyday. In addition to his new beefy physique, he developed one hell of a Southern accent. Cooper didn’t pull the Southern accent out of his back pocket either, he worked with a voice coach twice a day so he could sound similar to Chris Kyle. This is especially for all of you ladies who enjoy a man with a furry face; roughly half the movie is Chris Kyle at war. During the war scenes, Cooper is sporting a real mean, thick beard, the kind that makes other men shudder in fear. The kind of beard you would have to hike 12 miles through mountain terrain in Montana to find. Yes, Bradley Cooper is all things manly and badass in this movie.

 From the previews you may be lead to think this is another war movie with non-stop gunshots and explosions from start to finish with a wedding before Chris gets sent off on duty, however you are very wrong. What made American Sniper such a unique film is not only how it delivered the intense, suspenseful, fast paced action of a war movie, but it also shed a light on the dark psychological side effects of war. Chris Kyle was the deadliest sniper in the history of the American military, who had upwards of 160 confirmed kills. The killing and the fighting were only one half of Eastwood’s masterpiece. The other half consisted of PTSD stricken Chris Kyle’s struggle of returning to the normality being a family man. What made this movie so much fun to watch for me is how it interchanged between war and Chris Kyle’s turbulent home life. There was neither an oversaturation of war nor life at home. Director Clint Eastwood found a happy medium between the two to make for the best movie I have seen yet this new year.