I imagine American Sniper is destined to become one of Hank Hill’s favorite films ever. “Now Bobby, normally I wouldn’t take you to see an R-rated movie like this, but I’m going to make an exception this time, I tell you ‘wut. It stars that fella who played that ‘Rockety Raccoon’ character in that other movie we went to see, remember that? And afterwards I do plan to quiz you on what we saw. You can come too, Bill, but please don’t start screaming during the scary parts like last time, ok?”
Clint Eastwood loves America almost as much as he despises chairs, and that definitely comes through in his biopic about the late US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. It’s a movie torn between wanting to be a study on post-traumatic stress disorder and a rally-around-the-flag war film at the same time, all while attempting to humanize both a celebrated and somewhat controversial figure (and perhaps utilizing that notoriety in the marketing campaign- Kyle’s top ranking status for confirmed kills by a US sniper is plastered all over the posters and commercials).
Bradley Cooper eerily transforms himself into Kyle, bulking himself up and displaying a Texas accent so thick he makes Dusty Rhodes sound like a city slicker. Most of the film is focused on his four tours of Iraq and the effect it has on his relationship with Taya Renae (Sienna Miller), with a few brief flashbacks early on leading up to his first deployment. These are probably the best parts of the film, as we get to see Kyle as a flawed but humanized and still empathetic person, working in rodeos before being spurred to action after witnessing the 1998 US embassy bombings and marching into boot camp.
And do you know what some of the grunts like to do in their off-time? Throw darts into each other’s backs, apparently. W…what?
It doesn’t take long for the film to head in a far more grim direction, as Kyle begins to struggle with his humanity while he tries to maintain his fearless and deadly reputation. Some of the imagery and atrocities he sees combined with many of the choices he’s forced to contemplate understandably starts to break him down, which doesn’t help him in his quest to neutralize a deadly and elusive enemy sniper. Taya emotionally doesn’t fare much better as she raises their child with Chris either absent, or dealing his with own demons when at home. Miller’s performance as a worrying wife is especially touching, despite the role being pretty cliché.
Kyle is fortunately treated more like a case study than an audience surrogate in American Sniper, but you have to sit through a by-the-numbers action movie to get to the good stuff. Even though the war sequences aren’t bad, they don’t match up to Cooper and Miller just interacting with each other, and barring a couple of big scenes, his tours are a buildup to the real meat of the movie.
With the real Taya Renae’s role in the production, this was obviously a very emotional project for everybody involved, so even though I have to be honest and say I’d like to have seen a lot more from the film, I feel obligated to put that delicately (my wisecracking in this review notwithstanding). I hope I’m not spoiling too much by stating there should have been a much bigger emphasis on his post deployment life and work with other veterans.
I can definitely recommend it for the Eastwood faithful, fans of Bradley Cooper as he honestly does put on a bravo performance here, and anybody from Arlen, TX, but American Sniper probably will be too gung-ho patriotic for most outside of its target demographic. Although there’s plenty to admire about it technically, certainly from a performance standpoint and the intensity of the battle sequences, I think it wraps itself up in the flag too tightly to really become a classic. Cooper’s portrayal of a man going through a breakdown carries everything.
Although I do have to give my props to the Black Drill Sergeant. Black Drill Sergeant should have got a Best Supporting Actor nomination, he’s only in the movie briefly and fairly early, but he’s amazing.