This film is extremely cliched and predictable. When a character starts talking about his plans for a blissful future with the woman he loves, you know that guy's a goner. When lovers embrace lovingly and tell each other how proud they are of each other before parting ways with promises of "I'll be back soon...can't wait to see you later," you know that somebody is going to die within the next 5 minutes. Every scene is a pensive setup for a later defining scene. American Sniper is extremely formulaic in its quest for poetry. I've read reviews that praise the film for not "wasting any moments" and I agree: there's no nuance nor subtlety in any of the scenes. However, the lack of subtlety makes the film feel sterile like an over-simplified caricature of life. It completely zaps the film of any human emotion and ultimately, is the most disappointing thing about the film.
The trailer opens with an Iraqi child urged by his mother to run towards an American envoy with a grenade. With the child right in his crosshair, our protagonist faces the moral dilemma of shooting a child who probably doesn't understand the conflict nor consequences that his mother has led him into. This scene suggests that American Sniper is about the moral conflict and psychological toll of being the most lethal sniper in American history but spoiler alert: this the film's opening scene and only bout with moral conflict. Take out this moral crisis and what you're left with is over 2 hours of exactly what you think the movie is about. It's a shoot-em-up. It's Call of Duty with dialogue. Unlike its predecessors The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty, American Sniper boils down and simplifies America's longest military engagement. We are the good guys and they are the "evil savages." The film doesn't affirm nor challenge any of your existing moral nor political beliefs about America's involvement in the Middle East. In fact, it doesn't ask any questions at all which for me, is where the film disappoints.
The trailer opens with an Iraqi child urged by his mother to run towards an American envoy with a grenade. With the child right in his crosshair, our protagonist faces the moral dilemma of shooting a child who probably doesn't understand the conflict nor consequences that his mother has led him into. This scene suggests that American Sniper is about the moral conflict and psychological toll of being the most lethal sniper in American history but spoiler alert: this the film's opening scene and only bout with moral conflict. Take out this moral crisis and what you're left with is over 2 hours of exactly what you think the movie is about. It's a shoot-em-up. It's Call of Duty with dialogue. Unlike its predecessors The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty, American Sniper boils down and simplifies America's longest military engagement. We are the good guys and they are the "evil savages." The film doesn't affirm nor challenge any of your existing moral nor political beliefs about America's involvement in the Middle East. In fact, it doesn't ask any questions at all which for me, is where the film disappoints.
I've never read Chris Kyle's autobiography (which the film was based off) but it bothered me that the film never portrayed the Iraqi people as human beings. Did our protagonist not see these people as humans? They were almost always faceless "savages" regardless of age, gender or even civilian status. Bradley Cooper's Chris Kyle seemed so detached and devoid of emotion that he came off as almost robotic for much of the film. There has to be a more significant mental repercussion of witnessing the murders of innocent people than what was portrayed as mild PTSD that cured itself with time. There has to be a greater psychological consequence after personally killing 160+ people than what was portrayed. He had to have some sort of moral crisis raging inside, right? Based on the trailer, I thought that the film would be a discussion of this moral conflict or would at least touch on this Remarque-ian theme. I was disappointed that the film largely ignored this relatable and humanizing conflict to glorify the quantity of Chris Kyle's kills.
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