A Deeply Personal Piece Of Bravura Film Making

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2015)

Clint Eastwood's powerful meditation on war fits squarely with the themes that have informed his body of work, primarily the belief that with the absence of God, it is up to the individual to do God's work. There's a lot going on in Eastwood's and screenwriter Jason Hall's examination of Chris Kyle, considered the most "successful" military sniper in American history (and portrayed by Bradley Cooper in a performance that elevates him from above-average to outstanding): he's a patriot but also an employee, a man who has found his career and is simply doing his job. There is some very graphic imagery to reinforce war's hellish nature but there's also an awful lot of banality: Kyle and his colleagues spend time during lulls in their missions discussing the mundane things that people typically talk about during work breaks. Eastwood and Hall are clearly admirers of their subject (the film's final images prove that point) and they do give him the benefit of the doubt (the film's sole flaw is that it acknowledges Kyle's PTSD while stateside yet by the conclusion he's inexplicably cured), but they're realists when it comes to the job he's hired to do and make no bones about his lack of concern about the morality of his mission. (As one character astutely points out, he carries a Bible with him but never opens it.) The film is galvanizing in its combat scenes; they move with an immediacy and adrenaline that surprises you, considering Eastwood's age. But he never blinks. Tom Stern provides the excellent cinematography, filming with a brightness that sharpens the action. (The film's final battle, though, takes place during a sandstorm, blanching and obscuring everything--it's harrowing.) Like all great Eastwood films, "American Sniper" stays with you after it's over, encouraging you to meditate about everything it's trying to tell you (it's about a lot more than has been discussed here) and inviting you to argue back at it. It's a conversation well worth having.