Review of American Sniper (2014) by Carlos G — 03 Sep 2016

With 2015s "American Sniper", director Clint Eastwood proves his power as a director, managing to make yet another great movie and giving a new, different spin on the post 9/11 Iraq war. The plot, loosely based on the autobiography "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History", follows Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) a Cowboy Texas man that gets inspired into joining the military navy SEALs after the pre-9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Focusing also on his wife, Taya (Sienna Miller) that he meets during training and they're troubled relationship and marriage, that's most due to Kyle's sense of duty and constant return to the battlefield, and his eventual return and difficulties rejoining society.

If there's one word to describe this film, that word is beautiful. The film is a visual spectacle, from its first scene showing Kyle, as he aims towards an Arabic boy holding a possibly deadly hand-grenade and Kyle's decision to shot, or not, the kid (that being his first kill in combat), from the sound to the camera, everything on the scene works, making that, probably the best scene in the film, that's where Eastwood's direction enters. It's clear he's a visual director, the sound, the editing and the camerawork in this film are all fantastic, from the war scenes that are very well crafted and engineered to Kyle's simple, yet great sniper scenes, it's a visual film from a visual director.

The acting in the movie leans mostly on Bradley Copper, as the actor does a fine job, his best scenes being the ones he doesn't talk, the sniper scenes, all accompanied by Eastwood notable touch of camera work and editing that improves the scenes highly. Besides him, as Taya is Sienna Miller, the actress doesn't have many notable scenes in the film, she does her job as the hero's wife, but nothing fantastic. Behind these actors, you see some beautiful cinematography with fine shots, praiseworthy sound, and great editing.

"American Sniper" is a good film that gives us a fine depiction of the war in Iraq with amazing visuals, fine acting from its lead and great directing from Clint Eastwood. 4/5.