"American Sniper"

Title: American Sniper

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writer: Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen and James Defelice (book), Jason Hall (screenplay)

Category: Action, Drama, Biography

Duration: 132 min

Rate: 

With this review I keep on going with the Award Season's movie. This is another great film by Clint Eastwood. It is a biographical movie, based on the book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, which analyses one of the most controversial part of our history, or to be more specific, of the American one.

American Sniper tells the story of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who after saving countless lives of other fellow soldiers, has to battle against the common enemy of every war veteran, PTSD. The movie follows all his 4 tours in Afghanistan and the respective returns home after each one. He has a family waiting for him, however, he is not capable of coming back to his normal reality. His mind is constantly set towards going back to the war zone and protecting his country, to do his duty as an American soldier. Usually I don't enjoy movies that in many ways seem to celebrate war and patriotism. However American Sniper in certain aspects can be considered different. It is still a celebration of America and its megalomaniac need to bring justice and peace everywhere, but it is also a movie who celebrates for the most part the courage and the life sacrificed by many young Americans who believed in the cause, either if it was right or wrong. The movie development is linear, Eastwood gives to the audience Kyle before he enlisted to become a SEAL and then he moves chronologically till the end, when he is finally back home for good. I believe that Bradley Cooper, who is nominated for an Oscar for this role, did a good job in portraying Kyle. His interpretation was not always consistent, however the emotional parts, that every now and then have to come out into play, were acted beautifully. Every moral struggle lived by Kyle was crystal clear in the performance, every struggle during his decision making process, which most time needed to be immediate and based on gut feelings, was evident in his facial expression. Even the many aspects about the post-traumatic disorder were tackled by the actor in a strong way. Sienna Miller, who is playing the part of Taya Kyle, was spectacularly strong and emotionally involved in her performance. Through her, we see the strength of every army wife. The need to feel close to her husband, and the awareness that he will never be the man she once knew were written all over her body language and facial expression. Her character's need to have an emotional connection with her husband was painful to see. Unfortunately, the weakest part, for me, about this movie is the fact that it seems that Eastwood wanted to show more about Kyle's success as a SEAL instead of taking advantage of the chance given to him of openly talk about and expose the mental instability that often affects soldiers after living through hell during a war. Eastwood focused more on giving detailed accounts of Kyle's tours, but every time he is back home, I believe that he could have spent a little bit more time on his struggle to be more present and involved in the reality away from war. The small glimpses that we have of Chris trying to fight against this monster are clear thanks to Cooper's performance. However, in my opinion, the director did not leave much space to develop it. Nominated for 6 Oscars, all in all this is a good movie to watch. The pace is smooth and the movie does not feel too long. Some of the images are strong and detailed in their gruesomeness, making American Sniper a powerful, real and in some parts emotional journey into the life of every American Soldier who sacrificed his life, or sanity for the cause he believed in.

Till next time,

Fred

Here the trailer: