2015 - 132 minutes - Action/Biography/Drama
Director: Clint Eastwood
Country: United States
IMDB: 7.6Metacritic: 72
RT: 72%
EpicEnthusiast's Rating: C
Watch this movie if you enjoy:
- Bradley Cooper
- war films
- #Murica
Avoid this movie if you dislike:
- excessive drama
- cliched war sequences
- violence
- Clint Eastwood films
American Sniper was bound to be great.
Legendary film icon Clint Eastwood in the director's chair. Four-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper in the lead role. Six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a leading role.
But perhaps because of these reasons, expectations we're far too high.
Cooper plays Chris Kyle, who with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 probable kills, is the most lethal sniper in U.S. Military history. Kyle was an aspiring cowboy in his native Texas when the 9/11 attacks in 2001 inspired him to join the Navy Seals. The film gives us a brief look into his upbringing and takes us through his four tours of service in Iraq before coming full circle to his tragic death in early 2013.
One thing that is clear throughout American Sniper is that Eastwood trusts Cooper to tell the story he wants to tell. He dominates the screen as Kyle and carries scene after scene with a certain rugged confidence. The result is both a thoroughly impressive performance from Cooper and extremely limited characterization around him. As if Eastwood was dying for us to know Chris Kyle, but not anyone else in his life.
Throughout the film he switches back between the unstable personal life of Kyle in the U.S. and the chaotic streets of Iraq, and for every taut and riveting gunfight, there's an empty and lackluster sequence back home. Imperfect editing creates a roller coaster of emotion and quality, moving up in Iraq and down in the U.S. Eastwood's focus on Cooper is tight throughout, but is oftentimes too tight, as it closes out the other characters in the film. In a way, Cooper plays the only character in American Sniper.
Granted, it's a pretty good one.
Cooper consumed about 8,000 calories a day and spent many hours with a vocal coach to prepare for playing a hard-nosed Navy Seal, and it paid off big time. He put on more than 40 pounds, captured the essential Texan accent and used lessons from a real sniper to come forth as an ideal Chris Kyle. If there's a finger of criticism to be pointed at American Sniper, it shouldn't be towards Cooper. He works with an average script and puts together a resume-boosting lead that'll go down aa one of his best.
But ultimately, there is a finger of criticism to be pointed at American Sniper — or more specifically, at its director.
Some of the film's excessively dramatic content comes at the fault of screenwriter Jason Hall, who infuses overly sensational lines of dialogue in scenes that don't call for them, but most comes from Eastwood's director's chair. Throughout the film, he successfully builds up edge of your seat-type tension, only to climax with eye-rolling, cliched outcomes that are even more frustrating than they are unnecessary.
One of these moments comes after Kyle and and his team are escaping a massive firefight during a sandstorm. After fleeing a rooftop where he was pinned down, Kyle is shot and falls to the ground. Meanwhile his team is rushing into the back of a Humvee when one asks where he is. What ensues is your prototypical running to safety while shot and reaching your hand out just far enough for someone to grab it and bring you up-type shot, which simply has no business being in a heroic biopic.
Even more glaring than this is the maneuver that blew Kyle's cover. As he lines up an "impossible" shot that is over a mile long and would take out the marine-killing enemy sniper Mustafa, you sense something over the top is coming. Sure enough, Eastwood delivers. An elongated and insulting slow-motion bullet makes its way over to one of the film's top targets, and sucks all the satisfaction of the kill along with it. The film's signature moment becomes almost laughable. Eastwood should know better.
Even a brief sequence where Kyle is exclaiming his duty to America to his wife in bed should be proud and patriotic, but is instead sappy and theatrical because of its setup. Eastwood beats you over the head with heroism and bravery that speak for themselves. They're entirely evident in Eastwood's footage, but supremely overstated by the end.
These are the moments that Cooper's performance couldn't save. These are the moments that put the film's high production value in the shadows. These are the moments that killed American Sniper.
Like many of our country's heroes, Chris Kyle deserved a movie — he just deserved a better one.
-EE
As of January 27, 2015, American Sniper is in theaters everywhere. Here's the similarly exceedingly dramatic trailer:
But perhaps because of these reasons, expectations we're far too high.
Cooper plays Chris Kyle, who with 160 confirmed kills out of 255 probable kills, is the most lethal sniper in U.S. Military history. Kyle was an aspiring cowboy in his native Texas when the 9/11 attacks in 2001 inspired him to join the Navy Seals. The film gives us a brief look into his upbringing and takes us through his four tours of service in Iraq before coming full circle to his tragic death in early 2013.
 |
| Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle |
Throughout the film he switches back between the unstable personal life of Kyle in the U.S. and the chaotic streets of Iraq, and for every taut and riveting gunfight, there's an empty and lackluster sequence back home. Imperfect editing creates a roller coaster of emotion and quality, moving up in Iraq and down in the U.S. Eastwood's focus on Cooper is tight throughout, but is oftentimes too tight, as it closes out the other characters in the film. In a way, Cooper plays the only character in American Sniper.
Granted, it's a pretty good one.
Cooper consumed about 8,000 calories a day and spent many hours with a vocal coach to prepare for playing a hard-nosed Navy Seal, and it paid off big time. He put on more than 40 pounds, captured the essential Texan accent and used lessons from a real sniper to come forth as an ideal Chris Kyle. If there's a finger of criticism to be pointed at American Sniper, it shouldn't be towards Cooper. He works with an average script and puts together a resume-boosting lead that'll go down aa one of his best.
 |
| This one's for 'Murica |
Some of the film's excessively dramatic content comes at the fault of screenwriter Jason Hall, who infuses overly sensational lines of dialogue in scenes that don't call for them, but most comes from Eastwood's director's chair. Throughout the film, he successfully builds up edge of your seat-type tension, only to climax with eye-rolling, cliched outcomes that are even more frustrating than they are unnecessary.
One of these moments comes after Kyle and and his team are escaping a massive firefight during a sandstorm. After fleeing a rooftop where he was pinned down, Kyle is shot and falls to the ground. Meanwhile his team is rushing into the back of a Humvee when one asks where he is. What ensues is your prototypical running to safety while shot and reaching your hand out just far enough for someone to grab it and bring you up-type shot, which simply has no business being in a heroic biopic.
 |
| He did look good, though |
Even a brief sequence where Kyle is exclaiming his duty to America to his wife in bed should be proud and patriotic, but is instead sappy and theatrical because of its setup. Eastwood beats you over the head with heroism and bravery that speak for themselves. They're entirely evident in Eastwood's footage, but supremely overstated by the end.
These are the moments that Cooper's performance couldn't save. These are the moments that put the film's high production value in the shadows. These are the moments that killed American Sniper.
Like many of our country's heroes, Chris Kyle deserved a movie — he just deserved a better one.
-EE
As of January 27, 2015, American Sniper is in theaters everywhere. Here's the similarly exceedingly dramatic trailer:
