American Sniper

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2015)

Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home to his wife and kids after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.
American Sniper is directed by the one and only Clint Eastwood and stars Bradley Cooper. In fact Cooper completely deserves his nomination for best actor in a leading role, he is terrific in this film and gives an excellent performance. Plus, the cinematography does look very good, action sequences are fairly well handled, there is definitely some suspense and heart pounded scenes as well. There are a lot of controversies surrounding this film, in the fact that a lot of people don't really think that this man should be idolised because of some of the things he has said on his own biography. What I liked is that this movie doesn't glorify war with the usual American honor and medals. The movie first trailer, with this kid carrying a RKG grenade, was the most intense trailer I've ever seen. The question is do I shoot him or not? Those decisions are one big/important key theme of the film and the fact that it's weighing down on this man; because no matter who you are you can't go to war, pull a trigger, have someone across from you die and don't feel anything. You do. It shows how ugly and damaging it is for a person. However Eastwood's approach of this story is a little too black and white as the subject matter is kind of a grey area. The movie itself does not explore any of that, it basically depicts him as a perfect war hero who rescued a lot of people lives but there is this downwards spiral in which the more he takes tours and the more he loses himself. There is this dark hidden story of this man who's deeply damage. It doesn't properly get into the more deep and darker aspect of what PTSD can do to someone and how it can truly affect a family. Some scenes show that Kyle is a wounded man but it doesn't get once again in the emotional core of it. Do you remember this clown from The Hungover? You can be sure that this man is going to stick around for a couple more decades.
Overall American Sniper is a well directed and acted war epic drama looking at certain point of a The Legend' life without truly exploring the depth of his emotional damage and PTSD.