Grade: A-

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2015)

2014 has been a rather mediocre year for big-budget war movies. Fury was an entertaining if undercooked WWII actioner, and Unbroken, while being triumphant and well-made in most aspects, was very much a crowdpleaser, nothing more. Enter the latest this year has to offer, American Sniper.
Clint Eastwood's action biopic is an unflinching, unnerving look at the Iraq War through the lens of one deadly sniper; in fact, America's deadliest sharpshooter in history. Chris Kyle is portrayed by Bradley Cooper, who has shown a wide range of talents in the past five years, but never has he pushed himself this far. Bradley Cooper is almost unrecognizable as he becomes the blindly patriotic Navy SEAL who is willing to give all of himself to his country.
American Sniper is not so much a focus on the Iraq war as it is the story of a man destroyed by war. It is nothing unique in its perspective, but it's told with such precision and nuance, its hard not to be enraptured by the nature of the film. Chris Kyle- and the audience- sits at a distance, watching Americans and Iraqis get blown away, making judgments before he knows whether to fire the shot. American Sniper is a graphic movie, unafraid to show us the violence, to make us hear it, and to remind us of it when Chris returns from tour.
Despite crisp direction from Eastwood, the film does seem a little afraid in its depiction of American soldiers in the Middle East, taking a neutral position. Many times Iraqis are passively referred to as "savages", which seems rather inhumane, but having friends in the Army now, I know that the language gets worse than this. On one or two occasions, soldiers are heard muttering for the deaths of the men shooting at them, but when the shooting stops, many of these soldiers, except for Chris Kyle, are left wondering why they're even fighting. It suggests greater ideas like this, but never really delves into them. For example; in one scene, Chris Kyle's wife asks him, "Do you ever stop to think there's a person on the other side of that trigger?", an issue that is never explored again in the film. Nearly all of the Iraqis depicted are terrorists, but with the soldiers breaking in to ten homes an hour in one sequence, they are bound to have run into regular civilians, but the story isn't interested at all in this. I wouldn't say it's a flaw, so much as a missed opportunity to demonstrate the intricacies complexities of a confused and frustrating war.
The movie does face a few flaws, however. One particular Iraqi, also an expert marksman, is talked about much of the movie, doesn't say anything, and is always receiving phone calls about the whereabouts of U.S. troops. As soon as he hangs up the phone, the villain music comes in, and he sets up his weapon, waiting to ambush incoming Americans. After awhile, his character seems more cinematic than real.
Another character I had a problem with was Taya, Chris Kyle's wife. Despite Sienna Miller giving a strong, albeit a bit trying performance, Taya comes off as relentlessly nagging. Every time she sees Chris, he is more machine than he is man, but Taya longs for the man. She does not seem to be all too sympathetic to the pain he's suffered, to the things he's seen. She wants him to talk about it, but why? What does that solve? There is enough complaining from her for this to become a bit of a weakness in an otherwise solid movie.
My last issue is with the ending. Though the film does come full circle, I didn't see its arc fully realized until after the credits rolled. It feels short a scene or two and therefore, lacks proper closure. I respect Clint Eastwood's decision not to recreate the text that succeeds the final scene, but perhaps the movie's third act needed a bit more character development and underscoring of its themes to leave off where it does. Still, the rest of the movie pretty much hits the mark, so its hard to be too disappointed by its ending.
American Sniper is not a perfect war movie, hindered some by its single- character perspective, but it is a great and disturbing biopic portraying a man traumatized by the war in the desert and the war in his head. It is rather unsettling to watch for its graphic violence and coarse language, but plays things safe when it comes to the concepts that are raised. It's not as ambitious as The Hurt Locker was years ago, but it's the best Iraq war movie since, and without a doubt, the best war movie of 2014.
Grade: A-