American Sniper (2014)

American Sniper outlines the real life story of America’s most lethal sniper – Chris Kyle. Its basic premise is around Chris protecting his fellow marines, by providing overwatch support, as they conduct their door-to-door searches in Iraq. While Chris serves four harrowing tours of duty and becomes somewhat of a legend amongst the marines he is protecting, upon returning home to his wife and kids, he finds he cannot easily leave the war behind.

Overall Review Score

6.5 out of 10

Review

Directed by Client Eastwood, American Sniper is an American action thriller based on Chris Kyle’s autobiography - American Sniper: The Autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. While both the film and book have been criticised for embellishments, such as, in the book where Chris claims he shot 30 looters after Hurricane Katrina or in the film where Chris Kyle and 'the Butcher' engage in a fictional game of cat and mouse that cumulates in a 2100-yard kill shot. American Sniper is a gritty, if not somewhat muted, account of the Iraq War and how it affected the men and women who fought in it. Bradley Cooper puts on a stellar performance – balancing heroism with an intimate and subtle performance that displays the physical and psychological toll exacted on someone who has killed so many. However, the films portrayal of the Iraq War as a white fairytale, its poor supporting cast, excessive cutting (mainly during shooting scenes) and its rather abrupt ending combined with the film being promoted as the personal journey of Chris Kyle but really being a ‘rough and ready’ Hollywood sniper flick causes the audience to lose interest around the films half-way mark and overshadows what could have been an instant classic. Overall, while the film was not what audiences expected, i.e. a look at the personal journey or moral compass of America’s most lethal sniper, and the supporting cast fly past like a bullet leaving the barrel of Chris Kyle’s rifle, American Sniper is a decent film that is worth watching. It has moments of enjoyment, mainly through its fast paced and emotional shooting scenes, even if Bradley Cooper is easily the only actor that stands out from the film.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 6 out of 10

Comments:

American Sniper is a perplexing film to review as the film is not only a biographical, emotion filled, account of Kyle’s personal life but also an action packed thriller depicting moral dilemmas faced by soldiers in wartime. While the film does have its slow moments, and occasionally lays on the use of clichés a bit thick, it does manage to keep the audience engaged for the most part. Personally, I think the director, Clint Eastwood, over used the interactions between Chris Kyle and his wife Taya to illustrate the juxtaposition between military and civilian life, and could have easily dedicated more of the film to showcasing Kyle's accomplishments. With that said, American Sniper could have easily become a glorified account of Chris Kyle’s shooting prowess in Iraq, but does manage to avoid this for the most part.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 7 out of 10

Comments:

While American Sniper is a reasonably good film and Bradley Cooper puts on an intense, subtle performance of America’s most lethal sniper, Chris Kyle, the film does suffer in places from avoidable errors. Firstly, the supporting cast did not really stand out – they appear one dimensional, muted, and somewhat boring. Secondly, American Sniper’s 132 minute run time is not really justified, especially when the film is drilled back (no pun intended to the film there) to its basic concept - which is a macabre of shoot outs after shoot outs. Overall American Sniper is watchable, and to some extent is enjoyable, but if the film focused more on the personal journey and moral compass of Chris Kyle rather than trying to balance multiple elements into an all encompassing war film it would have scored higher.

#action #biography #thriller #siennamiller #bradleycooper