American Sniper is a biographical/action film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jason Dean Hall. It’s about Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper and his tour in Iraq. The film is based off of the book of the same name.
The good; the movie does a good job of not focusing too much on war, we get enough flashbacks and time away from the middle east to balance out the intensity of fighting a war.
Bradley Cooper does a superb job as Chris Kyle. There’s a scene right at the beginning of the movie where he has to make a decision on who to shoot, Cooper does well in giving us the struggle that goes on inside of him. Then when he’s back home stateside we get the sense of him not belonging in civilian life, how difficult it is for him to adjust.
I believed that Cooper was Kyle throughout the film.
The action sequences are great. They aren’t overly bloody and gratuitous, but they’re appropriate for the horrors that go on in war.
Clint Eastwood knows how to direct conflicted characters, which makes his movies all the more compelling. Our main characters are developed and three dimensional, not these cardboard cut outs that pass for leading roles these days.
The audience at this screening was very well behaved, it was like a Christmas present to myself, everyone was attentive from the moment go until the end (oh the end credits, what a great tribute to Kyle’s life). This is how movies should be viewed in the theatres.
The bad; I’d have to place Sienna Miller here, it was unbelievable that she was pregnant. I found myself not connecting with the scenes she was in when Kyle was back home… maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be though?
Overall, I would go see American Sniper in the theatres. It’s only in limited release at the moment, but once it goes wide in January, go check it out. When they say all war movies are anti-war movies, this is the prime example. What’s more is that when you watch this film you’ll learn about an American Hero and the toll that took on his life.
Excellent film, I enjoyed every moment of it, bravo to Bradley Cooper, I might go as far to say I smell an Oscar nom.
