A colorful story, a mediocre movie at best

Rating: 5/10 (12 January 2015)

Right of the bat, Bradley Cooper is amazing in this movie, far better than I thought he was going to be. He brought feeling and gravitas to a role that was sadly one dimensional and not well written. Sienna Miller is as always forgettable and many of the other actors are sadly interchangeable, with none of the character development seen in other great true war movies like Saving Private Ryan or Blackhawk Down.
I din't think any of this is the actor's fault, Director Clint Eastwood has made some amazing films in the past, but seems to be losing his grip lately (J Edgar was terrible and Jersey Boys was not as good as it should have been).
It's a shame because I wanted to love this movie, despite the controversies surrounding Chris Kyle, this is an important story about a war many of of don't fully understand. Generation Kill ad Hurt Locker both did great jobs of bringing home what our soldiers are facing for us in Iraq, and Lone Survivor showed the camaraderie or the Seal Teams in modern conflict. American Sniper failed to build on any of those films and instead was merely a propaganda piece with one stellar performance and a few well shot scenes (although none that will stay with you). It will be forgotten soon, which is not what Chris Kyle deserved.