Little to engage with

Rating: 4/10 (11 February 2015)

Clint Eastwood's American Sniper is a uncomplicated film about a seemingly uncomplicated man. Bradley Cooper puts in another impressive performance as the tight-lipped, hulking marksman Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, clocking up 160 confirmed kills over four tours of duty in Iraq. Seeing that many people assassinated through the scope of his own rifle must surely have weighted heavily on Kyle's shoulders, only we wouldn't know it as Eastwood offers such little complexity to the man that we learn virtually nothing about him.
The film is little more than one action scene after another. The opening scene, which sees Kyle faced with the awful decision of whether to take out a child he believes is holding a grenade and on his way towards a unit of American soldiers, is riveting. From then on, Kyle's scenes are a repetitive montage of enemy or civilian, shoot or don't shoot. When he's on the ground, the action is confusing, and with such slight character dimension offered to Kyle's comrades, the tragedy of their deaths hold little impact. It's also difficult to sympathise with Kyle himself, who is portrayed as little more than an ignorant racist who lives his life by his father's recognition of him being blessed with the gift of aggression.
This would all be fine if Eastwood provided any sort of context. If wars need these kind of men in order to be won, then make that the point. If the film is supposed to be an honest look at a remarkably efficient marksman of questionable ethics, then offer us a window into his motivation. Any references to a controversial war, it's legality, and the methods employed during the invasion are completely ignored. Feeling the need to stick to familiar movie tropes, Kyle is faced by a foe, the Iraqi sniper Mustafa (Sammy Sheik), who did not exist in real life. He is a faceless, near- wordless villain, someone to boo and hiss at. Like all the other enemy soldiers, no motivation, background or personality is provided.
There are a few good points. Usually the 'home life' scenes of any war movie grind the narrative to an unwelcome halt, but it's in these moments where we finally get a glimpse at Kyle the real person. His wife, played by a very impressive Sienna Miller, is a rock (but thinly written), and it's through her eyes that we see Kyle's struggles with PTSD. And Cooper is excellent, bringing what little humanity to his character as the script allows and bulking up to an enormous size to do the man he's portraying justice. But ultimately, the film left me feeling hollow. There is no feeling of the passing of time, little to engage with on an emotional level, and Eastwood's personal views on such a hot topic and divisive figure are non-existent.
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