Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
It’s controversial! So you should probably buy a copy either because you love or want to know why to hate it, depending on your perspective. That’s right, Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of the Chris Kyle autobiography American Sniper is finally out on Blu-ray and DVD.
I’ve already given my take on the American Sniper movie earlier this year, which in summary is that I don’t think it’s that great or terrible, but merely okay. Rewatching it again on Blu-ray (courtesy of Warner Bros Home Entertainment), my mind hasn’t really changed. Bradley Cooper is still excellent, Sienna Miller is dull, the movie is directed very well, and the messages are muddled. Simple enough. Chris Kyle as a subject isn’t really something I personally find intriguing, but that’s just me.
But an important thing for this movie in particular is the visual and sound, especially as the movie was nominated for categories in sound. The good news is that the Blu-ray is available in Dolby Atmos and Digital, with a great video transfer to 1080p. I found it a lot easier to follow along than I did on the DVD version. The Blu-ray comes with two special features:
- One Soldier’s Story: The Journey of American Sniper (31:04)
This is a fairly comprehensive look at how the movie came together and persevered through Chris’ murder. We see clips from Andrew Lazar (the producer) and Jason Hall (the screenwriter) talking about how they managed to get Chris’ interest and trust, Jason in particular, by putting an unruly guy in a headlock. We also see Chris’ widow Taya Kyle give a lot of interesting background info on the movie, although a lot of it is also in her essay in his book.
There is one recurring story about how Chris Kyle said to Bradley Cooper that “the only thing is to tie you to the back of my truck and drive around knock some of the pretty off you,” which Cooper laughed off. It’s the sort of story that will tell you exactly how you feel about Chris Kyle. It was nice to see this feature, which also had interviews with director Clint Eastwood and Sienna Miller, who spent time getting to know Taya.
- The Making of American Sniper (28:35)
Another behind the scenes piece, with a bit of repeated info from the other one, not especially interesting in comparison. But decently put together and long enough that it has merit to see if you like that sort of thing.
I’m not here to convince you whether or not to buy American Sniper, but if you saw it and liked it, you owe it to yourself to get this release.
Share this post
