Typical But Superior Example Of Eastwood's Work

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2015)

After seeing the extremely pornographic war porn of FURY I then decided to watch this movie which was not only multi-award winning but also has the somewhat shocking stat of being the biggest grossing war film unadjusted for inflation of all time . I had to double check the box office figures . It didn't exactly spend weeks and weeks at the top of the British box office film charts and didn't really garner the sort of critical acclaim it was getting in America . This is understandable though . Even the title featuring the words "American" and Sniper" conjures up all sorts of visions of ethnocentric stereotypes of jingoistic rednecks from the good ole USA zapping bad men with brown screen and beards who are bad men simply because they've got guns , don't speak English and aren't American citizens where as the good guys have got guns , many have beards and simply the goodies because they are Americans . Add to this the predictable but understandable aspect that people have to bring their politics in to the arena and you notice people are simply voting either a 1 or a 10 for this film due to being against or for the invasion of Iraq . I resisted this and simply watched the film as someone who enjoys cinema
The truth as far as I can see it is it's neither the quasi-fascist propaganda piece nor the masterwork many people are claiming . What this film is a film by Clint Eastwood and one of his better ones . Now to be fair Eastwood isn't in my opinion an outstanding director . He doesn't have a unique noticeable style similar to Tim Burton , Martin Scorsese or many other directors but is a good at making character driven films devoid of any flashy gimmicks . Instead he keeps the camera relatively still and let's the performances carry the film . He also does his best at bringing an empathy to protagonists who at first glance who are unsympathetic characters which is probably what a film like this one needs in order for it to work . It is interesting the amount of pedantic minutiae some critics have gone in to such as Chris Kyle's motives for joining the Navy SEALs or his reaction towards shooting a woman and child but bare in mind you're watching a Hollywood and not a fly on the wall documentary . One thing that has been embellished is the long running duels between Kyle and enemy sniper Mustapha but this is no doubt to give a much needed structure to the narrative that's in danger of being disjointed and episodic
In short AS isn't a perfect film but is one of the better films to have been directed by Clint Eastwood . It is also one of the better films to have been released last year . Where it earns my respect is the fact that it is the biggest money earner from last year that saw the box office being totally dominated by fantasy and superhero movies and one genuinely hopes this might lead a mini revolution in Hollywood in to making serious and sombre films featuring real topics as their premise . I live in hope