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American Sniper | 2014 | R | - 3.8.10
Based on the true story: Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), a Navy SEAL and decorated sniper, returns to his family after four tours and struggles to regain his footing. Also with Sienna Miller, E.R. Ruiz, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Max Charles, Brian Hallisay, Kyle Gallner and Keir O'Donnell. Directed by Clint Eastwood. [2:12]
SEX/NUDITY 3 - A man walks in on another man in bed with a woman (the first man's his girlfriend); they all yell at each other and the first man punches the second man in the face and pushes him out of the house while the woman yells at him (the woman is wearing short shorts that reveal bare legs to the thighs and a top that reveals her bare abdomen). A bare-chested man sits on a bed where he and his wife kiss (sex is implied). A man and a woman lie in bed together and their bare shoulders and upper chests are visible. A husband and his wife kiss in several scenes. A wife puts her foot in her husband's lap and massages his thigh. A husband pulls his wife into the shower with him and she screams (sex is implied). A woman is shown wearing a bra and panties as she walks into a room and toward a man who picks her up and she wraps her legs around his waist; they kiss and sex is implied.
► Two men talk about deserving sex after a rodeo ride. A husband and his wife flirt over the telephone and she says, "You knocked me up" (we see her swollen belly), before she asks him if he wants her to talk dirty to him. A man makes a comment about being sure that he will hear about another man being married to a "dude." A husband points a handgun at his wife (jokingly) and tells her, "Hands in the air and drop those drawers, nice and slow," and they kiss as he says, "I've got 4 minutes."
► A man approaches a woman in a bar and they talk and she is dismissive of him because he is in the military; she is wearing a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage (please see the Substance Use category for more details). A shirtless man in a bar is shown with his bare back painted with a bulls eye (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage. A woman wears a short skirt that reveals her bare thighs. A man is shown shirtless and we see his bare chest, shoulders, abdomen and back. Women at a wedding wear low-cut dresses that reveal bare shoulders and cleavage. A woman wears a low-cut top and we see her very pregnant belly as she rubs it. A woman nurses her newborn child and we see part of her upper chest and cleavage. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - Military personnel move through a bombed out area and tanks roll over debris in the streets as armed soldiers kick doors open and search apartments and buildings door to door while a sniper watches the area from a rooftop in the distance (this scenario is repeated in several scenes).
► A man holds a young boy on the ground while his mother and father and others are screaming and pleading; the man revs a drill and places it to the boy's leg and there is blood on the ground; the man then presses the drill to the boy's head (we see the boy lying motionless with blood on the ground and understand that he is dead) and a man who runs to the boy is shot several times as a woman screams. A man holds a woman's arm and raises a sword over it while yelling at her; he brings the blade down and cuts her arm off at the elbow (she screams and blood splatters).
► A sniper spots a woman and a young boy exiting a building and walking toward a group of soldiers; the woman is hiding something under her garb and hands it to the boy who runs with it in view before the sniper determines that it is an explosive and shoots the boy (we see blood); the woman takes the explosive and runs toward the convoy before being shot (blood sprays) and the explosive detonates (no military personnel are harmed). A bloody body falls from a rooftop after being shot by a sniper as a military convoy moves through a bombed out area. A car speeds toward a military convoy and the driver is shot from a distance releasing the trigger on an explosive that blows up the car with him in it. A man is seen planting an explosive in the ground and a sniper shoots him from a distance (blood pours from the wound). A man with a gun runs into the street and a sniper shoots him (blood flows from the wound). A man with a grenade launcher takes aim with it and a sniper shoots him (blood splatters); a small boy picks up the launcher and seems to be taking aim as the sniper prepares to shoot him as well, but the boy puts the weapon down and runs away. A sniper shoots a soldier in the leg and the leg snaps in half (blood flows); the soldier falls to his knee and is shot in the head (blood splatters). A sniper shoots the driver and passenger of a military vehicle and blood sprays on the windshield. A sniper shoots a soldier and blood sprays as he falls to the ground.
► A car filled with men is shot up and blood sprays from the victims. A military convoy fires on a van and a soldier is shot (blood sprays and we see his very bloody face as he gasps); we see a long, bloody groove on his face and later hear that he died in the operating room. A soldier is shot and blood smears on the wall behind him as he slides to the ground. Gunfire is exchanged inside a building and we see people being struck and falling with bloody wounds.
► A convoy moves out and drone flies overhead while soldiers with weapons search buildings; a soldier is shot off a ladder (blood sprays) as he prepares something and two snipers take aim at targets; gunfire is exchanged and several men are shot (bloody wounds are seen) while others continue shooting and moving toward a rooftop where they are cornered by the enemy as a sand storm moves in and engulfs them; a helicopter takes aim at the rooftop and fires (it misses the target) as the soldiers escape to a vehicle and speed away while camouflaged by the sand.
► Soldiers move toward a building where a man knocks on a door and goes inside; the soldiers shoot a man inside and then another outside before proceeding into the building where they find a dead man hanging and with his feet cut off; as they look around the building and they find decapitated human heads on shelves.
► A sniper finds many weapons under the floorboards of an apartment, grabs a man around the throat and shoves him against the wall while yelling at him. Armed soldiers break the door of a house down and question several people inside at gunpoint with lots of yelling and pleading; one man is punched in the face repeatedly and we see his bloody face. A man with a knife holds the blade to another man's throat. A bully punches a boy in the face on the playground repeatedly and we see his bloody face until another boy grabs the bully and punches him until his nose is bloodied.
► A man and a woman watch TV coverage of two planes flying into the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. Men in training shoot at targets. A young boy takes aim at a deer in some trees and hits it (we see the animal fall to the ground dead). A man shoots a snake at a great distance and we see the creature thrown into the air. We see many men during Navy SEAL training being forced into extreme circumstances (frigid water for long periods, carrying heavy packs for great distances, etc.).
► A man talks about walking into an ambush. We hear a man referred to as The Butcher and a man says of him, "His weapon of choice is a drill." We hear about an enemy sniper who was an Olympic athlete. A man is referred to as the Most Wanted Man in Iraq. During a training exercise, a man says, "Black guys don't swim" while trying to psyche out a recruit.
► We see funerals in a few scenes with grieving people, gun salutes, flag ceremonies and caskets. We see many wounded soldiers in a hospital with missing limbs and walking with prosthetics and crutches. A man lifts his pant leg and reveals a metal prosthetic leg.
► A man appears out of sorts and we see him being startled by loud noises, and losing his temper in several scenes; he yells at a nurse outside a hospital nursery where his newborn baby is crying. A dog playfully knocks a boy down on the ground and stands over him; a man sees this and removes his belt, grabs the dog and prepares to hit it before being stopped. A woman goes into labor and we see her in the hospital with her newborn.
► As a sniper takes aim at a target who is a young boy, a soldier with him tells him how much trouble he would be in if he shot him and he was not actually a threat. A man rides a bucking bronco and is jerked around repeatedly, then thrown to the ground; we see what looks like the animal stepping on the man's hand. A shirtless man in a bar is shown with his bare back painted with a bulls eye as another man throws darts at him (we see three darts stick into his back and he flinches slightly). A man talks about having an electric fence around his yard and that they would hold onto it and see who could last the longest.
► A man and a woman drink shots in a bar until the woman runs outside and vomits (we hear her gag and see goo leave her mouth). A sniper is relieved by another sniper who makes a comment about the odor in the area and when the first man gets up off the floor, we see a puddle on the ground (presumably urine). A man throws food at another man. A woman flushes the toilet while a man is in the shower and he screams. We see a sonogram image on a monitor in a medical office and a woman's swollen belly.
LANGUAGE 10 - About 115 F-words and its derivatives, 10 sexual references, 32 scatological terms, 20 anatomical terms, 12 mild obscenities, name-calling (sunshine, quitter, nuts, old man, hot box, arrogant, self-centered, sitting ducks, legend, dogs, redneck, crazy, savages, the Butcher, Satan, son of Satan, hajji), 7 religious profanities (GD), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus Christ, Fear of God, God ).
SUBSTANCE USE - Two men drink bottles of beer and we see many empty bottles on tables around them, a man and a woman meet in a bar where many people are shown drinking beers and mixed drinks while they drink several shots (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), a man drinks a beer in a bar, and a man and woman drink beer at a cookout. A man is shown with chewing tobacco in his mouth in several scenes, and a tin of chewing tobacco sits on a bar in front of a man.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Military training, standing in judgment, evil, bullying, protecting people, the Iraq war, PTSD, veterans affairs, heroism, marriage, family.
MESSAGE - Know your purpose. PTSD is a serious and awful condition.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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