Good, competent but somewhat thin in storytelling

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2015)

I've often been in a group situation where I have felt smug and confident in my film opinion, an opinion that has fallen short of matching up with the group consensus. I don't mind to say why I think the Transformers movies have been huge disappointments or why another movie was not in "too slow" but rather it was moody and atmospheric. However, after watching American Sniper I was sheepish to admit that I had felt more than just a bit restless and bored in the theater. I felt a little bit like I just "didn't get it" which made me feel bad and I felt a little perhaps unpatriotic in not clapping in admiration when it was over (there was clapping and one guy upon exiting the theater remarked about he was surprised that the applause wasn't more exuberant).
I will not pose this review as a conversation on what the message of the movie was or if it did not paint a true picture of Chris Kyle, although those are both rich topics to delve into. Even if this were not based on a true story, if Chris Kyle had been a fictional character, I do not feel the film did enough to investigate him. There was the scene that from his childhood where his father told him that in that family they did not raise sheep or wolves, but rather sheepdogs. This was our evidence that Kyle had a savior complex, but I don't think it was enough. There was the scene, again as a kid, where Kyle's dad praises his son's take down of a deer and that he had a special talent. Again, not enough depth to explain what made Kyle ticked. Instead we have four tours of duty played out in full and monotonous detail. I became more invested when Kyle was between tours and back home, trying to fit into life. If these tours were used more as flashbacks and related more through comparison and contrast into that "ordinary" life a better pacing would have been achieved.
I read that Steven Spielberg had almost made this move and that he had taken a slightly different approach as an entry point. He would have brought the enemy sniper more into focus. Showing that the two snipers were two sides of the same coin and that perhaps war isn't about good and evil or if it is, it is from the vantage of where you stand. Maybe this would have been too similar to Enemy at the Gates, I'm not sure. I do think it would have made the movie more interesting for me at least.
I do know several people that liked this movie. People that are reasonable and intelligent and who hold opinions that I would usually consider. For me, even with a worthy performance from Bradley Copper, the movie was too one dimensional and for that I would not be fast in recommending it.
Blarv Score: 5.8 out of 10