Less than a decade ago, it would have been difficult to imagine Clint Eastwood directing a film as shallow, undistinguished, and alarmingly jingoistic as American Sniper. With his 2006 dyad Flags of Our Father and Letters From Iwo Jima, the filmmaker brought the hard-bitten moral soul-searching of Unforgiven and A Perfect World into the context of a true story. While still reflecting an essentially conservative view of violence, Flags/Letters uncovered a pessimistic yet empathetic dimension to Eastwood’s work.
In this light, American Sniper seems retrograde, both artistically and politically. A bulked-up and thick-necked Bradley Cooper stars as Chris Kyle, a rodeo cowboy from Texas who enlists in the Navy SEALS after the 1998 African embassy bombings. As a talented marksman, he is quickly singled out for sniper training. Along the way the way he also meets, charms, and marries Taya (Sienna Miller). Then: 9/11. Kyle soon finds himself perched on rooftops in Iraq, where he acquires a reputation as a superstar executioner at 1,000 yards. Mimicking the flawed but more knotty Enemy at the Gates, the film introduces a rival jihadi marksman, setting up a “sniper’s duel” as its dramatic centerpiece.
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Adapted from Kyle’s memoir, American Sniper is an unapologetically pro-war tale which largely aligns with its protagonist’s one-dimensional patriotism. This wouldn’t necessarily be fatal if Eastwood had burrowed deep into some aspect of the fictionalized Kyle’s psyche. Instead, the director offers tepid, superficial engagement with multiple elements: the aforementioned sharpshooter rivalry; Kyle’s negligence of his family; his inner struggle between reckless hotshot and humble everyman; his bloodthirsty, bigoted yearning for national justice; and his rudderless post-war existence. The film limply box-checks the tropes of a warrior character study in the most disinterested way, leaving the viewer to wonder why Kyle’s story was regarded as a worthwhile cinematic subject.
American Sniper opens Friday, January 16 in wide release.
