REVIEW: AMERICAN SNIPER
I saw this film this past Saturday, which means I had no earthly clue that Clint Eastwood's American Sniper would pull in an unheard of $90 million. That's a better weekend than Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies and 22 Jump Street, all blockbuster sequels with established franchises. What's the reason for this unheard of success? Patriotism: people love seeing films about American war heroes. Buzz: Sniper got six Oscar nominations last Thursday including best picture, actor and adapted screenplay. But most importantly: word of mouth. A movie can have great reviews and Oscar nominations, like The Hurt Locker, and nobody will see it until it sweeps the Oscars. But, if not for Bradley Cooper's performance alone, the film's mammoth box-office returns are well justified.
The film largely chronicles the time Chris Kyle spent in his oversea tours, mostly in Iraq. After seeing the '98 embassy bombings on TV, Kyle, like a good American (as the film tends to patriot-ize his as) goes to the Navy and eventually becomes a SEAL. That sentence sounds very oversimplified; the movie briefly shows the hardships and humiliation, including being hosed down and, that it took to become a coveted Navy SEAL. Kyle's shown as always being the American personification of a good guy: signing up for the military, defeating the "enemy" and having a wife and kids.
Even though this was a real man, Cooper could've abandoned Chris Kyle the person and gone with Chris Kyle "the Legend" as he was called. With a name like that you're almost bound to disappoint. If a stand-up comedian toted that he was the funniest man alive, you would begin critiquing his jokes and finding flaws in his delivery. But Kyle met all of them while on duty, accumulating over 250 kills in his four tours. What Cooper does is become the comedian's audience, and finds the flaws and insecurities of the man. While on duty, Kyle is an OOH-RAH golden boy, an eliminator of evil. While back at home his mind's over in Iraq, pondering who he has to kill. He's no Dahmer, Kyle doesn't kill for the thrill of the sport, but to protect his brethren. At least that's what he tells himself to get by, but his kills and his time start weighing on him, and when he's finally home he's far from being finally home.
Cooper, in subtle actions like looking down and passive aggressively taking compliments for his actions, becomes this man, who loves to serve his country and wants to be home, but when he's home he'd rather be serving his country. Being in the military is almost his addiction, and coming home to regular life is his withdrawal. I wish Sienna Miller had more to do as his wife Taya, because the real life Taya was heavily involved in the creation of this film. Her main motivation it seems to me was just to miss Chris. I also wish Eastwood's direction would've shown more restraint: some of the battle scenes lose their edge when they drag on and on. On the reverse, some scenes were so intense I could feel the packed house grip their chairs as tight as I was. The movie isn't hit and miss, rather hit-and-I-wish-this-could've-landed-more-on-target.
Let's just give it up to Cooper, who along with physically transforming himself with a bulky exterior and a pitch perfect Texas accent, landed an Oscar nomination for this role, voiced Rocket Raccoon and is on Broadway to rave reviews as the Elephant Man. His dedication along with Eastwood's direction makes this one of last year's best thrillers, and the audience has clearly spoken if they want to see more quality movies like this.
Rating: 2.5/4 stars
The film largely chronicles the time Chris Kyle spent in his oversea tours, mostly in Iraq. After seeing the '98 embassy bombings on TV, Kyle, like a good American (as the film tends to patriot-ize his as) goes to the Navy and eventually becomes a SEAL. That sentence sounds very oversimplified; the movie briefly shows the hardships and humiliation, including being hosed down and, that it took to become a coveted Navy SEAL. Kyle's shown as always being the American personification of a good guy: signing up for the military, defeating the "enemy" and having a wife and kids.
Even though this was a real man, Cooper could've abandoned Chris Kyle the person and gone with Chris Kyle "the Legend" as he was called. With a name like that you're almost bound to disappoint. If a stand-up comedian toted that he was the funniest man alive, you would begin critiquing his jokes and finding flaws in his delivery. But Kyle met all of them while on duty, accumulating over 250 kills in his four tours. What Cooper does is become the comedian's audience, and finds the flaws and insecurities of the man. While on duty, Kyle is an OOH-RAH golden boy, an eliminator of evil. While back at home his mind's over in Iraq, pondering who he has to kill. He's no Dahmer, Kyle doesn't kill for the thrill of the sport, but to protect his brethren. At least that's what he tells himself to get by, but his kills and his time start weighing on him, and when he's finally home he's far from being finally home.
Let's just give it up to Cooper, who along with physically transforming himself with a bulky exterior and a pitch perfect Texas accent, landed an Oscar nomination for this role, voiced Rocket Raccoon and is on Broadway to rave reviews as the Elephant Man. His dedication along with Eastwood's direction makes this one of last year's best thrillers, and the audience has clearly spoken if they want to see more quality movies like this.
Rating: 2.5/4 stars
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