Comparable to Hurt Locker

Rating: 10/10 (21 February 2015)

Like The Hurt Locker, American Sniper provides insight into how war impacts the psyche of soldiers. Although Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is celebrated among fellow soldiers, director Clint Eastwood lends as much time portraying the strain the war had on Kyle's personal life, specifically his wife. Bradley Cooper (who trained for three months to gain 40 pounds of muscle) plays the conflicted Kyle, who forces himself to develop a hatred of the enemy, referring to Iraqis as "savages," so he can justify killing them. The action scenes provide an adrenaline rush, but it's the intentional moments of silence — such as when Kyle, with finger on the trigger, is deciding whether to kill a child who is holding what appears to be a bomb — that make American Sniper an outstanding movie.