**Spoiler Alert**
Director: Clint Eastwood/Starring: Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller
Based on the book: American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History , Clint Eastwood's American Sniper is an intense, pulse-quickening drama detailing the life and war experiences of legendary Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who was credited with over a 150 kills during his four tours of duty in Iraq.
Though we've seen many films about the Iraq war in recent years, including Kathryn Bigelo's excellent Hurt Locker, Eastwood's film claims its own distinction by offering us a biopic about a man dedicated to his deadly craft; who, like many who fought in Iraq, was scarred by the experience.
The film fritters little time immersing us in the action as we see an American tank with soldiers in tow entering a rubble-strewn town square. Straddled on a rooftop overlooking the scene is sniper Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) with a spotter at his side. As he scans the square for possible threats, he sees a woman hand a child an explosive device. Hesitant to fire his rifle at the child, he receives consent from command to proceed at his own discretion. Unsure of the child's intent but concerned for the safety of the soldiers below, his finger begins to tighten on the trigger. The scene is a very effective opening sequence and it lays the dramatic groundwork for the combat we see later. Will he pull the trigger knowing he could, as his spotter warns, face a prison term in Leavenworth for an illegal killing? Eastwood knows enough, with his exquisite storytelling instincts, to defer the outcome.
How did Kyle become a skilled purveyor of death? A flashback shows him on a hunting trip as a child; his father at his side. Chris brings down a buck with his rifle, which leaves his father beaming with pride. After Chris carelessly drops his gun, his father offers advice about caring for his weapon.
Another scene from his childhood shows Chris delivering a vicious beating to a bully after his younger brother Jeff is bloodied in the schoolyard. Later, as the family is gathered at the table for a meal, his father lectures his sons about protecting one's own family after seeing Jeff's bruised face.
The film cuts to Chris as an adult, leading a rough and tumble life in the rodeo as a bronco-buster. After he returns home with Jeff (Keir O'Donnell), he finds his girlfriend in bed with another man. He forcefully evicts the man while his girlfriend angrily cites his constant absence as her reason for her infidelity. Shortly thereafter, he ejects her from the house too. Her complaints about Chris not being around carries some foreshadowing, for which we see why later in the film.
After watching a T.V. news report about a terrorist attack directed at Americans in Kenya, Chris' outrage and patriotic fervor move him to visit a local Navy recruiter, who suggests he test for the elite SEALS. Intrigued by the challenge, which requires almost superhuman physical and psychological stamina, Chris signs on. A sequence follows where we see he and other hopefuls endure torturous physical tests but he emerges from the ordeal a Navy SEAL. Immediately following, we see him on a firing range receiving specialized training as a sniper.
Hanging with the other SEALS at a local watering hole, Chris meets a beautiful woman named Taya Renae (Sienna Miller). Though Taya resists Chris at first, she warms to him, and before long, the two marry.
After watching news footage of the 9/11 attack, Chris' soldierly resolve is strengthened and in spite of Taya's anxiety, he is later shipped off to Iraq.
We return to the moment where Chris rests on an Iraqi rooftop, watching the child and mother handle a deadly explosive. The scene's hair-raising intensity marks the beginning of Chris' harrowing and often frightening four-tour service in Iraq.
Eastwood paces the story and the action masterfully; slowly building suspense with a first-person account of combat and all its extremes, which threaten the body and try the mind. We're never but an arm's length from Chris as he mans a sniper's nest or when he follows or leads ground troops in their operations, which involve perilous searches of Iraqi homes.
During his first tour, Chris learns of two dangerous antagonists who prove to be the ground soldier's bane; one, a highly skilled Syrian sniper named Mustafa (Sammy Sheik); formerly an Olympic gold medalist marksman and a brutal, sadistic warlord nicknamed The Butcher, whose capture is given the highest priority. Mustafa serves as Chris' arch-enemy and the film's principal villain. Both enemies prove to be slippery and elusive and their elimination provides the film (and maybe Chris) with a quest of sorts, which gives the story a nervy energy.
No less tense are the home-front scenes, as Chris' deployments begin to abrade his marriage. Complicating his relationship is his prolonged absence from his children and his wife, who he seldom sees.
The theme of protection introduced earlier in the film is restated, as Taya recognizes Chris' motive for returning to combat is borne of a brotherly, protective feeling he has for the troops as that he once showed for his brother.
It isn't long before the tours begin to take their toll on Chris' mental health and behavior, which don't escape Taya's notice. The film handles the home-front anxieties and PTSD quite effectively. We get a sense of the effects of combat stress when certain sounds, like a neighborhood lawnmower, draw Chris' attention for reasons we can immediately identify. We also feel Taya's frustration as her repeated attempts to fathom Chris' emotional state prove fruitless. But in spite of marital problems and frequent absences, the irresistible pull of combat and duty beckon Chris. The audience is also aware of the lingering threat Mustafa and The Butcher pose to the ground troops.
The combat scenes are brilliantly directed. Though it is reasonable to expect audiences to experience fatigue from so many films and documentaries about the experiences of American soldiers in Iraq, Eastwood demonstrates that the subject has yet to be exhausted. This is achieved by Eastwood's maestro-like command of the material and some outstanding editing by long-time Eastwood collaborator Joel Cox and co-editor Gary Roach.
Bradley Cooper is exceptional, more so when we consider he isn't the most obvious choice for the role of a Navy SEAL sniper. His performance stretches his boundaries as an actor, which leads me to believe he is up to any dramatic challenge. I must say Sienna Miller has the tougher task of making the home-front as gripping as the battle scenes. Though the anxious-wife-at-home is a staple of most American soldiers-in-Iraq dramas, she manages to make her lonely suffering compelling, particularly in one scene where she overhears the sounds of combat while talking to Chris on a cellphone.
Aside from one character questioning the war's meaning, the film avoids the morality of the War, which makes sense. The story is about a deadly sniper and Navy SEALS are usually the last to question our nations motives for waging war. As for Chris' moral response to his 150 kills, we hear him say to a therapist that god will judge him for his actions.
As Chris' reluctantly wears the mantle of hero for his unheard of kill count and for saving the lives of many soldiers, the horrors of war finally weigh on him. And the protective, god-like care for the troops that motivated him in his tours, is re-purposed in peace time, as he finds so many who have returned from the war--many worse off than he--need his help.
The ending is a shock; its cruel irony would seem so contrived if it weren't true.
American Sniper is a terrific film. I wasn't surprised to discover that it has resonance, and even day or two after seeing it, it still occupies my mind.
At 84, Eastwood shows not a mote of mellow in his storytelling. It is almost unheard of for a director of his maturity to stay relevant but here he is in 2014, doing the unexpected; making one film about Franki Valli and the Four Seasons and another about a famous sniper. He may well stay relevant into his 90s'. It's quite possible.
For now, we have this marvelous film to behold.
