You can watch my youtube review HERE!!!
American Sniper is the latest film from Clint Eastwood, starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller. The film is based on Chris Kyle's biography of the same name and explores his exploits as America's most lethal sniper with the most confirmed kills. We see Chris Kyle over several tours in Iraq along with his home life once those tours are over and the post traumatic stress disorder he begins to deal with.
Now American Sniper has been a polarising film both critically and politically (mostly politically). Since I am not American (or well educated in politics) I won't really dig into that aspect of it. Critically it has been met with mostly favourable reviews but there's a divide between those who think it's amazing and those who think it's rather standard fair...I am a member of the latter group. Don't get me wrong I think Clint Eastwood can be a brilliant filmmaker but his last great movie was Gran Torino...and that was in 2008.
As things go, Chris Kyle himself was a rather controversial figure. He was what you would call a hardcore patriot; someone who would give their left nut and life for their country and would see the enemy as alien and not one bit human. Because this film is portraying Chris Kyle as who he was it may seem like the film is saying it agrees with his beliefs; the truth is it doesn't. Clint Eastwood approaches his subject with a very clinical and procedural approach that I wouldn't really call inspired but it in no way glorifies the subject's stand beyond portraying how he viewed the world.
With politics out of the way let's get into the actual film. Like I stated earlier I fall into the group that sees this film as a solid one but in no way deserving all the buzz it currently has. With all the praise it had going into the cinema I was expecting a deep look into the psychology of a man and the toll war took on him (a la the Hurt Locker) but instead I found it to be only skin deep; interested in only presenting the man an not really exploring him. To compare it to another recent film I would have preferred if Eastwood handled the film with the same touch Bennett Miller used for Foxcatcher (review will be up soon) because he knew how to really dig beneath the skin and into the minds of his characters.
Bradley Cooper is the MVP of this film, delivering a fantastic performance that makes this decent yet uninspired film worth the ticket price. He is able to bring out in his performance what Eastwood's filmmaking is unable to do though if they were both at the top of their game it could have been even better. The film is well shot with good cinematography and even better editing which keeps the pacing moving; even though the film is over two hours I didn't think it felt long all. The script was well written but like Eastwood's direction I felt that there was a lot more it could have explored and said that it didn't end up doing. Also the rather contrived and not entirely true rivalry with an Iraqi sniper didn't really work for me.
For me I don't think this is a bad film at all, I liked it and think it's a step towards a return to form for Eastwood (depending on how many years he has left). I think with all the fuss being made about the film it should have been something a lot more substantial; when I get into a conversation about it with a friend there really isn't that much to talk about, all I say is that it was good...but not great.
3 1/2 out 5 stars.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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