In Review: "American Sniper" (2014)

This movie has got everyone talking. It deals with aspects of American life that your every day person doesn't see and doesn't understand. I'm talking about war. Before the Vietnam War, the American public never saw the effects of war (Vietnam was the first televised war) and therefore, when they did see the danger and the horror of war, they wanted to stop it all. But what about the guys on the other side of the line? The men and women who risk their lives every day in order to "serve their country"? What does that mean? What does a day in their life really look like? Specifically, the life of someone whose job it is to kill.

The Plot

Based on a book that's based on a true story about a regular American man who joins the Navy SEALS and becomes one of the top snipers in American history with over 100 confirmed kills. What his job does to this man and his family is heartbreaking, hard to watch, and in the end makes you realize that you don't know anything about war. Chris Kyle kills women, children, and anyone else he thinks could be a threat to the American soldiers.

The Stars

Bradley Cooper takes on another serious role. And the hardest part about his role is that he has to pretend like he has it all together when he is at home and away from the war. He has to seem like nothing is wrong when really on the inside, it is like he never left the war. Cooper has a hard time accomplishing this, but I don't think it is because of his acting. I think it's because of the opportunities missed by Clint Eastwood. There is only one time that Kyle gets upset and shows what is going through his head. There is only one time we see the effect war can have on the human soul. The rest of the movie we just see Kyle doing his job. We feel the pain it takes to make those kills but we never truly get inside of Kyle's head.

The Message

One of the things that Kyle said in interviews seems to be shadowed in this film. He said that this was his job and he will stand before God and take ownership of every shot he made. Because he was always protecting his guys. There is a single moment near the middle of the film where Kyle runs into a man whose life he saved. Kyle seems too distracted to pay attention as the man is thanking him. He seems distant from that life at home. He seems to never come back. And then at the end of the film, he is killed by a man who also suffers from the demons left behind from fighting. So I think the message is this combination of how hard it is to be in the war and how hard it is to come home and his job is not to kill but to protect. A lot of the backlash about this movie is people saying that it glorifies snipers and therefore glorifies killers. But it really shows the audience that they kill with purpose and the purpose is to save.

Overall

(This is the actual Chris Kyle, who the movie is based on)

Like every other war movie out there, this is not one I would want to watch again, but I feel like I almost have to. War is a concept I don't understand. I can't wrap my head around why it has to exist and why people willingly enter into them. Of course, this is all coming from a girl who studied to be a journalist and always, always, always question question authority.

I think this movie falls short in a few ways. 1. You never are able to get inside of Kyle's head. It's a complicated thing, his job, and you never really get to understand what it does to him until the very end. 2. The ending. Why end it with Kyle's death? Yes, in real life, he did die. That's where his story ends. But it isn't really. It doesn't end because all of those people that he saved continued living.

I feel like that was the message this movie was trying to say, but it never really got there. There were glimpses of a message but never a clear one. It feels like an opportunity missed.

2 out of 4 Sniper targets