American Sniper (2015) Film Review

American Sniper is arguably the biggest dark horse of the 2015 Oscars. With no nominations in any other major award shows, including the Golden Globes, it suddenly got traction when it earned 6 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and its financial success has lead to praise and controversy aplenty. People have argued that its one-sided view of the war has come across as islamophobic, while others say that it tells only half-truths. But while it has had immense success in the home land, how does it come across to non-patriots such as myself? 

The story goes that, following the 1998 bombing attacks, Texan Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) decides to join the Navy, and after being enlisted as a Sniper he goes to Iraq following the recent 9/11 attacks. During his multiple tours, he becomes a legend within both forces for his multiple kills, and begins to change mentally - which wife Taya (Sienna Miller in her second Oscar-bait film of the year) notices during the time inbetween tours. Thus the two hour journey goes, and it is immensely slow. Whilst they do try and speed things up in the final 'battle' between Kyle and an enemy sniper nicknamed Mustafa, the rest of the film is incredibly slow-paced and it led to checking the time multiple times. It may come across as a potentially good story, it's told at the wrong pace and can be jarring at times as you switch between the home land and the war zone. It's also worthy noting that the ending, made to have a emotional punch for the credits, does do the same thing as earlier 2015 release Foxcatcher by having it take place in a different scenario which brings out more alienation than emotion. Whilst they do actually acknowledge the time change, it is still very abrupt and fails in its intended purpose. 

You also have an uninteresting lead in the form of Kyle, who has very little personality to being with aside from patriotic. It could be argued that it's done to show how mechanic he becomes because of war, but apart from his first snipe which is shown in the trailers he doesn't have much change. Admittedly, he was a bit likable, and perhaps that was due to Bradley Cooper giving a good performance (maybe not deserving of a Best Actor nomination, but nevertheless good), but if there was more sustenance to the character than perhaps we could side with his character more rather than follow him about and become the legend he was. His over half was more likable because Miller put in a bit more heart into the role. Granted, she does also lack character outside of 'mother', but there's at least a lot more to her than meets the eye. As for side characters, there aren't really any notable ones. You get the odd soldier who gives his life for his country (one of which causing his platoon to go nuts and go on a bloodshed) but there is a lack of character for this near-immortal squad. And in the case for any Iraqi characters, they come across as either traitor or villainous, with only one family showing some form of care towards our 'heroes'. 

Perhaps the biggest compliment film can garner is Clint Eastwood's direction, as it can often make up for the otherwise bland storytelling. No stranger to war films (thanks to his 2006 double bill Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers), he clearly has the right experience in making the otherwise desolate warzone into something which could be construed as eye-catching, whilst scenes that could otherwise be shoved aside for being dull have a bit more to them due to their aesthetics. He is at times let down by the special effects department, particularly during an establishing shot near the end of the film where it looks more like an old video game than an actual location, but he brushes past those parts for a visually nice film. 

Besides from the islamophobia allegations, there has also been some discussion over the fake babies used during the film. Whilst not being a major aspect of the film - they are basically used as props instead - they are noticeable and can often through you out of what should be a major character moment. When considering they do use actual babies at times, it does baffle why they opt for this route, but it's not a major criticism. 

But what is a major criticism is the overall quality of American Sniper. With a script riddled with bad lines and characters which lack actual character, it's hard to imagine that the sniper we see in this film is consider by some an American hero. He might have been in actuality, but none of that is shown in this lacklustre adaptation. I may appear to be slagging off the film, but there are times where the film gets things right. The sad thing is that these moments are overlaid by duller moments which deserve the recognition more. It's one of the weaker films to come out of the Academy Awards, and it's unlikely that it'll earn anything going by its controversy and its actual quality. 5/10.