Directed by:
Clint EastwoodScreenplay:
Jason HallCinematography:
Tom SternComposer:
Joseph S. DeBeasiCast:
Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Kevin Lacz, Navid Negahban, Keir O'Donnell, Brian Hallisay, Sammy Sheik, Ben Reed (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission: to protect his brothers-in-arms. His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and, as stories of his courageous exploits spread, he earns the nickname "Legend." However, his reputation is also growing behind enemy lines, putting a price on his head and making him a prime target of insurgents. He is also facing a different kind of battle on the home front: striving to be a good husband and father from halfway around the world. (Warner Bros. US)
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Reviews (10)
American Sniper is not about physical suffering in the middle of a battle zone, but rather about the diametrically opposed perspectives that the war in Iraq is subjected to, both from the unsuspecting American public and the direct participants in the bloody conflict, as well as the questionable motivations that drive many young Americans toward their dream of "serving the country”. Eastwood works with a very generic cinematic equation, with his protagonist coming into the war full of enthusiasm and patriotic oaths, only to leave as a broken man who has lost his illusions of honour and the existence of goodness. But what elevates the film to above average is its undisguised aversion to jingoism, which is a flimsy band-aid for doing or perhaps returning to evil, the natural civility of emotion that makes the war and psychological levels blend beautifully, and of course Clint's formal genius, which he still retains even in his 80s. Given the many Oscar nominations, one might think that Americans have a soft spot for Eastwood, but watching American Sniper, as with Gran Torino or Million Dollar Baby, I realized that the popularity is well deserved. 80%
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Patriotism is boring. The psychological portrayal of the main character is average. It is neither a high-octane war action like Black Hawk Down, nor a minimalist, intimate piece like Zero Dark Thirty. American Sniper doesn't impress you with anything, except maybe how flat and predictable it ultimately is. It's as if Clint Eastwood had no room for any of his trademarks. You won't feel or resonate with the shots, nor with the dialogues spoken by characters with whom you don't empathise or bear their "burden" on the screen – except perhaps the leading duo. Thumbs up for not being afraid to depict child violence and a few solid action scenes that intertwine with the boring ones that lack dramatic dynamism and better structure – Ridley Scott could give a few lessons – the hell in Mogadishu was much more tangible.
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Biography of the sniper from Texas, Chris Kyle, who had about 150 kills scratched into his rifle stock. Eastwood has become a hitmaker in his latter years (90 million views over one weekend!) and a very moderate war movie director. Not so many kills as such, they are restrained, realistic and not even Kyle is counting (he’s so cool). Probably because we all know what a farce Iraq was, there’s no delving into politics. Simply a classic pursuit movie with ragheads with a polite duel going on in the background. The picture pretends that sniping itself isn’t playing the main role, but in fact it’s a conflict with Mustafa and the hunt for Butcher that help the viewer differentiate between the separate tours. The classic development of the Navy Seals and is all too familiar, thank you very much Eastwood for presenting it in more entertaining form. Cooper is very convincing in his transformation from man to robot and back again, at crucial moments he doesn’t act like a hero, but like a psychopath. His dead soul is visible in his cold blue eyes (that’s why Kyle wears sunglasses almost all the time). Movies like Hurt Locker don’t have this, that’s probably why this movie works much better. Emotions come across artificial, but on the other hand the finale works well, sad, even though the main message becomes a little blurred. P.S.: I’m a great fan of the Punisher, so I seriously enjoyed the scene about the “graphic novel". The armor and magazines with the skull stencil looked damn good. Hooyah!
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A brutal, action-packed, powerful, emotional, properly American patriotic and simply beautifully retold story of a legendary sniper in an actual war. The film is very action packed, there is frequent gunfire, the pacing is decent, the dialogue is classy, the cinematography is slick, Bradley Cooper is perfect, Mustafa the sneaky Arab sniper and Cooper’s biggest rival is also brilliant, he gives a flashback to Enemy at the Gates. Perhaps the only representative of this year's Oscars that really deserves it. I liked Lone Survivor a bit more, but this is also a very solid and engaging affair 80%
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Eastwood's precise shot, which is likely to be mistaken for pathos when defending the American way of thinking, stands out above all. This is due to the fact that, despite a significant part of the runtime being spent on the battlefield, it manages to retain a civilian atmosphere, rather giving Kyle's extraordinary "skill" lip service because, at his core, the protagonist remains that pure American redneck who, in Cooper's excellent, paunchy Texan delivery, blathers on about defending the country, and yet you know he means it with unapologetic sincerity; its length and the empty brothers storyline are the only things that the film can be faulted for. Even J. Edgar wanted to look like this.
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