Uneven,thematically schizophrenic film that none the less is watchable.

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2015)

I am not quite sure what Eastwood was going for here. To mess with and twist up our expectations and views of brave soldiers or to bring a true American real-life hero to life in a pretty accurate accounting of his tours in Iraq.
See,what we know of Chris Kyle is what he himself said;He liked killing. He wants nothing more then to protect his countrymen and when he's at home with his lovely wife(Sienna Miller,for the second time in 2014 playing the wife of an ill-fated character)he is distant,thinking about all the people he is not able to keep safe.
Cooper plays the role very well,making Chris socially awkward and introvert,clearly very often displaying signs of an anti-social personality,only at home in war.
The screenplay seems to suggest that 99% of all Iraqis want Americans dead,even the friendly ones...they are however referred to as"Savages"by our lead character and nothing in the storyline seems to criticize that even remotely as very small children and women fall prey to the....justified?...bullets fired from our protagonist.
The action scenes are very intense and well-edited,filmed with a sure hand by Eastwoods number one,Tom Stern. American sniper has some really nail-biting sniper-moments(Though the title is a bit misleading,only on parts of his first tour and last is Chris Kyle actually a sniper).
The film really is lacking though when it comes to having fleshed-out characters(Cooper,yes,Miller mostly just gets to be upset and frustrated) or even remotely interesting support. A powerhouse like Whiplash can not only survive but thrive with a two-character setup,this film has problems since the problems the couple face pretty much just goes round in circles and circles,same issues facing the couple at the end of tour 1 as tour 4 and any other character just drifts off in the periphery while the main character here doesn't really develop a whole lot.
It was a powerful enough film to warrant a viewing. Maybe a second one would make it more clear what Eastwood was going for;As a portrait of a sociopath and an unrelenting patriot,this film works. As a tribute to a true American hero,the film can come off as repulsive and very manipulative. I chose to see it as the first of my two options,though I highly doubt that is what Clint was going for.