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I was on the fence with this film. Like Foxcatcher, I felt like it told the story but there was so much ground to cover that it only covered the surface and never let us into the deeper struggles. That being said, the action scenes were tense, even if the music at times was borderline comical. It was like a horror movie cue everything Mustafa, the Syrian Sniper, appeared.
And then I learned that Mustafa was a fictional character* and, well, that really killed it for me. I can understand giving Kyle a nemesis so he isn't just going against faceless, nameless Iraqis but Mustafa played a HUGE role in Kyle's motivation in this film that it feels like this is less is more of an action film Inspired by the life of Chris Kyle. It's like Eastwood and Co. couldn't figure out how to convey the commitment and psyche of soldiers so they relied on a "But Mustafa is still out there! I must stop him!" story.
Also, the growing up section and the stuff with his brother could have been cut out. They didn't really add much of anything, especially when the brother disappears midway through the movie.
In the end, as an action movie, it's pretty solid with good action scenes but as anything more, well, there isn't more.
*There was someone named Juba, the sniper of Bagdad, who terrorized US troops but I'm not sure how much contact Kyle had with him and he certainly wasn't his arch-enemy.
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