Movie Review: The American Sniper

Genre: Biographical War Drama

Rating: ***

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Max Charles, Luke Grimes

Director: Clint Eastwood

Language: English

Chris Kyle, the military protagonist of this film, was a celebrated shooter in the American Navy SEAL unit who served four tours during the Iraq conflict with over 160 kills to his credit. I use the term ‘celebrated’ loosely here. Depending on your feelings about the US operation in Iraq, he was either a ruthless killing machine or a true-blue war hero. Eastwood’s film does not take political sides. Instead he approaches his subject with the studiousness that he is now become famous for, turning American Sniper into a meditation on Kyle’s chosen profession.

Most of the action takes place against the dusty and desolate expanse of Iraq, only interrupted intermittently by glimpses of Kyle’s mundane family life (Sienna Miller plays his wife Taya). Cooper’s depiction of Kyle is pitch-perfect, both in its gruff masculinity and inscrutability. Kyle had a workmanlike approach to his job, which was difficult. The “savages”, as he called the insurgents, had to be taken out; he was the right man for the task. Some of his targets were children, suspected to be aiding the enemy, and the sequences where Kyle takes aim at them might cause even the stoniest hearts to wince.

If Eastwood had any moral qualms, his film glosses over them. He remains faithful and respectful to Kyle’s life and service. If American Sniper lacks in nuance and complexity, it’s because Kyle was nothing more than a simple-minded patriot.

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