A Strong Action-Heavy War Film That Hints at, But Ultimately Skirts, Deeper Meaning

Rating: 6/10 (14 May 2015)

Chris Kyle, sniper extraordinaire and lightning rod for many reasons (some of which are entirely of his own creation), gets the close-up treatment in an appropriately controversial film. Much of the popular criticism centers around Kyle's casual, almost matter-of-fact tone about the inevitability of American military involvement in Iraq and a simplistic, one-dimensional perspective on the native combatants. From what I gather, much of that was toned down from his autobiography, on which this was based, and on the screen it's somewhat more excusable. In an industry that's already seen the likes of Rambo and Commando, it's hardly the first to commit that sin, though it does remove us a bit from reality and make the production's more grounded, thoughtful aspects a bit tougher to swallow. American Sniper's battle scenes are a major strength, intense and morally-exhausting, but occasionally they drift into idol worship and stretch to assure the audience that his strikes were justified. Kyle's descent from suave, charismatic bar-denizen to haunted, self-righteous battlefield legend is a difficult but effective journey, well-managed by Bradley Cooper in the leading role. The frequent hints and nudges about his struggles with PTSD on the homefront are nicely done, too, right up until the closing moments when the film spontaneously lurches into a tacky fairy-tale ending that felt so jarring and undeserved, I wondered if it might be a dream sequence. It's better than I feared it might be, but asks many more questions than it answers and quite often falls short of delivering on teased potential. As snapshots of a superstar's life behind the scope, and behind the battle lines, it works. As a finished thought on the man himself? Not quite.