Over the weekend, I had the pleasure to see the much-anticipated war movie, “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper and directed by the legendary director/actor, Clint Eastwood. Watching the trailer to this movie, I assumed it would be an intense war movie that had plenty of explosions, gun fights, and yes, a lot of death. The most important thing going into the movie for me was would Eastwood be able to deliver a film that captured the terror and reality of war itself.
I am very happy to say that Eastwood does just that, and while American Sniper is no Saving Private Ryan, it is still a very well directed and acted war movie.
The star of the movie is hands-down Bradley Cooper. The actor has sure come a long way since being the pretty boy in the “Hangover” trilogy, huh? His roles in “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” and yes, the voice work for Rocket Raccoon in the summer blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy” have pushed Cooper up my list for favorite current actor.
Cooper plays a wannabe cowboy who decides to enter the Navy Seals and hone his skills as an elite sniper for the U.S. military. His character goes through a major transformation throughout the course of the movie, and Cooper does an excellent job conveying his inner struggle as he continues to realize the effects war can have on the soldiers involved. The result is a role that could very well earn Cooper a nomination for best actor in next year’s Oscars.
The romance between Cooper and actress Sienna Miller worked for me in this movie, and while things move pretty fast for the couple, I never felt as if it was being rushed. The portrayal of their relationship felt natural, and I felt sympathetic to both sides.
The tone of this movie was well done by Eastwood, as the movie had me on the edge of my seat during particular moments. The reality and cruelty of war is visualized respectfully as well much like another one of my favorite war movies, Lone Survivor. The enemy the American soldiers are just that; the enemy. However, the film doesn’t toot the USA horn and portray all of the middle citizens to be this evil entity. Evil surely exists, but there are plenty of innocent people trapped within the situation, and the film does a good job in showing that side as well.
One of my only gripes with the movie is the the side characters. Honestly, the only characters I cared about were Cooper and Miller. Besides them, nobody really brought anything special or memorable to the table.
Also, the fact that Cooper is portraying a military “legend” in Chris Kyle is fine, but he is referred to as “legend” a lot throughout the movie, and it gets a little stale by the film’s climax. Perhaps that was actually how other soldier interacted with the real Kyle, but it became a little to excessive in the movie.
Other than those two things, I really enjoyed American Sniper and Eastwood’s direction. It’s a great portrayal of the struggle war has on the people and soldiers involved, and Bradley Cooper knocks it out of the park.
4/5 delicious, blood-red apples.