This film was thrilling, but wasted a lot of potential.

Rating: 6/10 (13 February 2015)

American Sniper was an interesting look at the life of sniper Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American history, and his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.) or it could have been. The acting was very good, especially from Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle. Unfortunately, all of the other characters in the film were focused on so little that they sort of just fall into the shadow of Chris Kyle. The military shootouts and white-knuckle decisions were masterfully done. It should be noted that there were a couple of scenes involving gruesome scenes with young children that could be very uncomfortable to watch for some people. As hinted at earlier, the scenes at home, where Chris Kyle had to face his inner demons and watch as he and his wife slowly fall apart were very underwhelming and often ended way too quickly without answering or addressing anything other than pointing out that there is a problem over and over again. The resolution of this film was WAY to fast and lacked any emotional impact. Many military movies had great shootouts and action scenes, so this movie needed something to stand out from just a bland movie, and while it had a huge opportunity to do that, it did not take it. The movie was very black and white and did not explore the moral gray areas of war as much as it could have. This is not a bad film. It just does not deserve be known as one of the best military films ever made. To summarize this movie in one word: overrated.