6 AMERICAN SNIPER
he is sent to Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. Kyle is a talented sniper, earning the nick-
name “Legend” for his numerous kills. As he hunts for al- Qaeda leader Abu Musab
al- Zarqawi, Kyle pays a family $100,000 to lead the SEALs to “The Butcher” (Mido
Hamada), al- Zarqawi’s right- hand man. Despite careful planning, The Butcher’s
sniper captures and restrains Kyle while The Butcher kills the father and son who
helped the SEALs. Kyle returns home for the birth of his son, but is preoccupied
with the haunting memories of combat. Taya begs Kyle to put his energy into his
family, but he soon leaves for a second tour. After the second tour, Kyle returns
home again, this time to a newborn daughter. He is even more alienated from his
loved ones. On his third tour, despite injuries inflicted by a Dragunov sniper
rifle, Kyle and his unit choose to continue their mission. On his fourth tour of
duty, Kyle is assigned to take out “Mustafa” (Sammy Sheik), a skilled enemy
sniper killing U.S. Army combat engineers. Perched on a rooftop, Kyle spots
Mustafa and kills him with a shot from his Lapua .388 rifle at a distance of 2,100
yards (1.2 miles), but the shot reveals his team’s position to the enemy, and
swarms of armed insurgents attack. Luckily, the team escapes under the cover
of a sandstorm, but Kyle sustains an injury and is almost left for dead. Kyle goes
home, but is on edge and incapable of adjusting to civilian life. He copes by
coaching wounded or PTSD- afflicted veterans at a shooting range. Eventually, he
settles in to life at home. On 2 February 2013, Kyle brings a veteran to a shooting
range. On- screen subtitles reveal: “Kyle was killed that day by a veteran he was
trying to help,” followed by archival news footage of thousands of people lining
his funeral pro cession while thousands more are shown attending his memorial
ser vice on 11 February 2013 at Cowboys [now known as AT&T] Stadium in
Arlington, Texas.Reception
American Sniper proved to be a huge hit at the box office. On its opening weekend
(16–18 January 2015) in wide release (3,555 theaters) the film posted more than
$89 million in ticket sales. By the end of its 27- week run in June it had earned
$547.4 million in worldwide grosses— almost 11 times its $59 million production
bud get. As for official accolades, American Sniper garnered six Oscar nominations
and won an Oscar for Best Sound. But American Sniper also ignited fierce debate
among film critics, pundits, bloggers, and the general public as to its merits and
putative meaning. Conservatives heaped praise on the film as a fitting tribute to
Chris Kyle’s combat exploits and as a stirring paean to U.S. military ser vice. More
centrist voices judged the film a balanced and poignant rendering of the devastat-
ing effects of war on soldiers and their families. Some critics on the Left denounced
American Sniper as a simple- minded infomercial for American xenophobia and colo-
nialist militarism and machismo. Perhaps the most astute appraisal, though, was
rendered by journalist Matt Taibbi in a review for Rolling Stone (2015): “The really
dangerous part of this film is that it turns into a referendum on the character of a
single soldier. It’s an unwinnable argument in either direction. We end up talking
about Chris Kyle and his dilemmas, and not about the [Donald] Rumsfelds and
[Dick] Cheneys and other officials up the chain [of command] who put Kyle and