American Sniper

American Sniper

*** 1/2 / ****

 

Reviewed By Sean Trolinder

Directed by Clint Eastwood

 

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Jack McDorman, Sammy Shiek, Keir O’Donnell, Luke Grimes, Mido Hamada, Kevin Lacz, Eric Ladin, Cory Hardrict

 

 

 Before Bradley Cooper became an A-list actor, he was often noted as one of the more intriguing Broadway actors who could be a future great. For several years, Bradley Cooper took supporting roles in romantic comedy hell (if you have the time and patience, rewatch Failure to Launch, Yes Man, and Wedding Crashers, and you’ll see my point). It was not until director David O. Russell took a chance on him a few years ago, casting him as the lead in Silver Linings Playbook, when Hollywood started taking notice of the actor’s range. Though Silver Linings Playbook and America Hustle (both directed by Russell and earned Cooper Academy Award nominations) were both comedies with deep, thematic elements, Cooper proved his dramatic range in Limitless and The Words. However, Cooper’s portrayal as expert sharpshooter Chris Kyle in American Sniper is not only his best performance to date, but should now put him in the conversation as one of the best actors of his generation.

Directed by tactical directing legend Clint Eastwood, American Sniper spans through Chris Kyle’s four tours of duty (roughly ten to twelve years), while devoting a small portion of the film to Kyle’s childhood and upbringing. In fact, the movie begins in a moment when the action hits an apex during Kyle’s first tour, when on top of a roof, he spots a woman handing a RKA Russian grenade to a little boy. Kyle’s spotter cautions him that if he shoots the boy and the grenade is nothing, then the U.S. military will send him to Leavenworth. Before we find out whether Kyle has what it takes to pull the trigger, a gunshot echoes as the film cuts to Kyle’s childhood, back to a moment when he was hunting with his dad. The shot came from Kyle’s rifle after killing his first deer. Afterwards, we get an anecdote about a time when Kyle’s brother, Jeff, is getting beat up in a playground. The young Chris Kyle stands up to the bullies, protecting his brother. As boys, their father gives a speech about people acting like sheep (cowards) and wolves (bullies), and how neither should be present in their family. Then the film cuts to several years later, while Chris Kyle and Jeff try to make it in rodeo and as cowboys, but when Chris watches a U.S. embassy being blown up on the news one evening, he feels inspired to join the SEALS.

Through quick cuts and montages, Eastwood puts together clips of Chris Kyle surviving SEAL training and the rigorous process he endured just to have a shot to be trained as a sniper. When September 11^th happened, Kyle gets shipped to Iraq for his first tour of duty, which leads us back to the beginning of the film. As Kyle contemplates shooting the boy, the audience quickly understands that if he were to pull the trigger, it would be his first kill and not the way Kyle envisioned his career beginning. Regardless, Kyle’s decisions to kill anyone with a weapon and protect fellow soldiers at any cost shows the sniper’s dedication to his country, and though he claims that he does not regret killing anyone, we quickly learn that any time a child is present and could be the victim of his shot, he feels profoundly conflicted about the moral implications about taking such a life.

Killing Iraqi soldiers is just one part of the action that drives the film, and compared to some of Eastwood’s other films, American Sniper seems to risk being honest, regardless of an audience member’s political affiliation. Eastwood has directed war films before (like Flags of Our Fathers and even Letters from Iwo Jima), but American Sniper might be his most violent and unflinching critique of war. On one hand, the film comes off as pro-war, since it plays up the theme of how war is about fighting for the man beside you and making sure war never hits our homeland; however, Eastwood plays up anti-war themes every time Chris Kyle returns from a tour. Back home, he has a wife named Taya (played by Sienna Miller), who becomes pregnant multiple times with his children, and while Kyle is off sniping the enemy, Taya worries whether he will come back. She suffers as much as Kyle does, sometimes from loneliness, sometimes due to the unknown of when Kyle will quit volunteering for tours, but most often due to her hearing gunfire in the background while Kyle talks with her on a cell phone. American Sniper also explores anti-war elements like PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), since every time Chris Kyle returns, he becomes more paranoid and sensitive to noises. Things that trigger Kyle’s anxiety are the groaning of a lawn mower, the zip of tire bolts being taken off cars in an auto repair shop, or sometimes the sound of explosions that come out of nowhere (and these moments are the most subtle and hidden, since Eastwood makes even the audience question if Kyle is imagining such noises). As Kyle’s PTSD becomes more prominent, Taya begins asking more questions about whether Kyle is the same man that she married.

Perhaps the most interesting storyline in American Sniper is the cat-and-mouse game Chris Kyle must play with Iraq’s best sniper, an Olympic marksman champion named Mustafa (played by Sammy Shiek). As Kyle’s reputation grows, a bounty for $180,000 is placed upon his head and Mustafa seems content on being the one who takes America’s best sniper out. Some of Chris Kyle’s dangerous missions in finding a terrorist named “The Butcher” (played by Mido Hamada) lead him to close calls and gun battles with Mustafa, and with Eastwood’s use of the shaky cam at times, the audience becomes a part of the action. This storyline plays through Kyle’s four tours of duty, and in the later stages, it becomes personal for both snipers.

In terms of criticism, Eastwood has been accused of directing propaganda pieces in the past, and several moments throughout American Sniper lean toward such a conclusion. It is sometimes hard to separate the man and the myth of Chris Kyle in the film, since almost every soldier he runs into calls him a legend. Moreover, Kyle tells Taya many times throughout the movie that he fights to protect her, to protect his children, and to protect his country, which are phrases that have been played out in several war films. Kyle mentions fighting for “God and country” openly a few times, which is a phrase often preached within the U.S. military. Also, the movie tends to just drop the storyline between Chris Kyle and his brother, Jeff, which is odd, considering the first fifteen minutes of the film focuses so much on their bond. Other than a brief encounter between the two when Chris returns for another tour and Jeff is being shipped back home, we don’t get much closure with what comes of their relationship due to war.

Compared to most of the lackluster war films made over the past several years, American Sniper seems to have regained the genre’s respect. As far as Eastwood’s films go, this is probably his best work since Letters from Iwo Jima (though I still have a soft spot for his underrated masterpiece, Invictus). With a good mixture of action, character development, amazing cinematography, and Bradley Cooper’s performance, American Sniper should be one of the rare films that satisfies both the average movie goer and enthusiasts of art house cinema.