“There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it’s a family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next you have those who just need a job. Then there’s the kind who want a legal means of killing other people.”
– The title character of the 2012 movie Jack Reacher, played by Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, listing the “four types” to Rosamund Pike’s Helen Rodin.
As for the fourth type, Reacher was referring to another character in the film, an American sniper prosecuted for murders both in Iraq and the US.
Jack Reacher’s “American Sniper”: James Barr, played by Joseph Sikora.
Judging from Kyle’s own words, this character is a much more accurate portrayal of Chris Kyle’s psyche than the one created by Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper.
“But after you kill your enemy, you see it’s okay. You say, Great. You do it again. And again. (…) I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different–if my family didn’t need me–I’d be back in a heartbeat. I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun.”
– Chris Kyle, American Sniper
Here’s an idea: Clint Eastwood could make American Sniper the first movie in a trilogy about heroes who gleefully murder people in other countries from a safe distance. Next up: “American Drone Operator” and “American Neocon Laptop Bombardier.”
American Drone Operator, Scene 1
Bradley Cooper into a cellphone: “I’m ready to come home baby!”
Sienna Miller: “Okay… then come home.”
Cooper steps out into a parking lot in Indian Springs, Nevada.
In a sane and moral world, it wouldn’t be American Sniper raking in tens of millions, but Citizenfour.
Should read “risked his life.”
Finally, be sure to watch for comparison the Nazi version of American Sniper (the one controversially referenced by Seth Rogen), this film-within-a-film from Inglorious Basterds:
Also published at Antiwar.com and Medium.com: