"American Sniper"

As someone who is prone to worship ground trod upon by Clint Eastwood.......and a former sniper.......I waited 'til the crowds diminished, then drove 20 miles to view the movie. Production-wise this is quite good..........impressive, actually, but a few things dampened my enthusiasm:While those with little or no professional-level knowledge about the capabilities of modern rifles or telescopic sights might have been enchanted, there are those of us that rolled our eyes a bit: Some of the long-range shots alleged to have been done, along with the magnification and steadiness of the 'scope's sight picture were often unrealistic. I'll have to forgive the usual phony, simulated, rifle recoil.It seemed to me like most of the Iraqis were very anti-American. Since I've not had the opportunity to visit the country, I just don't know. But the Government keeps insisting that the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people love Americans, which seemed to be a missing factor.The Chris Kyle character did a fairly good job in showing the effects of PTSD, that was well-done.Having the greatest respect for the Marines, it was a little puzzling to see them played as barely tactically conscious and under-trained. The grouping, bunching and not spacing themselves and tailgating in convoys in an area known to have booby-traps and IEDs seemed unlikely.Poor Mrs. Kyle: she spent 80% of her time vomiting, crying, whining or bitching. It was grating on the nerves.Lastly, and I don't want to give away too much of this decent movie, but, right at the end, when Chris Kyle was playing with with a real firearm (specifically, a Colt Single Action Army) in an unsafe manner, he made things worse by laying it cocked and unsecured on top of a cabinet and leaving it there. Give us a break, Clint. Putting it in a gun safe would have been a good idea.All-in-all, I recommend that everyone go see this movie. While it has some shortcomings I'd give it a solid B+, but I wouldn't go see it again. Maybe Clint should have had Tom Hanks direct it.