Review of American Sniper (2014) by James L — 07 Oct 2015

"American Sniper" is a true story based on Navy SEAL legend Chris Kyle played by Bradley Cooper. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the movie is set in Iraq during the infamous War on Terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City. Chris Kyle is a trained Navy sniper from the elite group SEAL Team Six. He is deployed to Iraq over a course of four different tours and is an overseer of military squads performing missions throughout the country. The film follows the life of Chris Kyle before, during and after his Navy SEAL deployment, with various scenes splicing back and forth from his personal life to life as a solder.

Growing up in Texas, Chris is an all American cowboy who learns to shoot rifles, hunt deer and ride bulls. Chris's inspiration to serve his country and to enlist into the Navy's program is a direct result of the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 200 people. After meeting his wife in a bar, Chris marries her and soon after is deployed to Iraq following the 9/11 terror attacks. During his first tour, he is forced to kill a mother and child carrying an improvised explosive device approaching a Marine company. This event has a tremendous impact on Chris and he is visibly upset by the kills. Over the course of his four tours in Iraq, Chris becomes the military's most deadly sniper with 255 kills. "The Legend" as he is nicknamed, is mentally scarred and as with many military veterans returning from war, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Director Clint Eastwood does a fantastic job portraying the life of service men enlisted in the US Military and the various problems they encounter throughout life. Some issues servicemen encounter as a result of military deployment are finding love, family relationships, and most importantly PTSD. Many veterans returning from warfare develop PTSD from the atrocities and horrific war experiences. Balancing life after warfare is hard for many soldiers returning from war, most if not all have some form of PTSD. Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper do an excellent job portraying the life of a solder with PTSD before, during and after war. After defeating his nemesis, a Syrian sniper and almost being overrun by mercenary infidels, Chris decides to come home and life as a solder is over. The following scene foreshadows Chris's PTSD struggles and attempt to return to ordinary life. The scene shows Chris drinking alone in a dark dive bar reminiscing about his past experiences. Once he returns home to his wife, he is vacantly staring at a blank TV hearing the horrors of war all while ignoring the world around him. Bradley Cooper's acting is phenomenal, he perfectly portrays the struggles of soldiers faced with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The visual's in the film are extraordinary, Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper do a great job portraying warfare on the big screen. The cinematography is fantastic, one example is the sniper's last kill were the camera follows the trajectory of the bullet into the terrorist's head. These tiny aspects taken into consideration, make the film great. The film's short fall however, are some of the minor details Clint Eastwood might have overlooked. In one scene Chris is holding his baby daughter and you can clearly see that the infant is a doll. Clint Eastwood should have paid the extra money to have a real toddler and not a plastic toy in the movie. Other than minor motion picture errors, American Sniper is a fantastic film worth the two hour watch. The film's patriotic narrative accounts the life of an American Hero who experiences the horrors of war and the great honor he brings to his country.