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By Sandra Olmsted

Director Clint Eastwood again proves he know what war is all about in American Sniper, which is based on Chris Kyle’s American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. Not only does Eastwood show his mastery of big action, but he explores the wages of violence and the toll it took on the Iraqi and Afghanistan soldiers who fought in a guerilla war where every local was considered hostile.

He also leads Bradley Cooper to a much deserved Oscar nomination for best actor. Although Eastwood did not get a directing nomination for American Sniper, the film did receive a best picture nomination, and nominations for best adapted screenplay, editing, sound mixing, and sound editing.

Devoid of thankful locals cheering the arrival of American liberator so common in WWII films, American Sniper shows how the soldiers bond to each other to the point of disconnecting with themselves and their families, especially through multiple deployments. All this is through the eyes of Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), whose job it is to watch over the troops clearing houses one by one, to see trouble coming before American soldiers are killed, and to take the shot that takes one life, sometimes even of a child sent as a suicide bomber. While the nature of such evil, as seen through Chris Kyle’s eyes, is subtly mentioned, the theme is never fully explored. The soldiers in Kyle’s squad, such as Goat-Winston (Kyle Gallner), Pastor (Troy Vincent), Biggles (Jake McDorman), remain largely two dimensional characters, very rarely seen out of their combat uniforms and gear, which makes them hard to distinguish and their characters harder to follow, to cheer for, or, occasionally, to mourn.

Cooper turns on the acting chops and transforms himself into the Navy SEAL from Texas with the addition of extra pounds, a swagger, a bit of cowboy charm, and a thick Texas accent. While other actors have somewhat meaty roles, Cooper must, and does, carry the film because of Eastwood’s interesting choice to focus on the point of view of Cooper’s character, Chris Kyle. Sienna Miller play Taya, Chris’s wife, and Miller has some good scenes early on.

As the film progresses she becomes more two dimensional, repeating the same lines again and again. “Even when you’re here, you’re not here” and “I need you to come back to us” are her frequent comments. Only once does she threaten to not be there when he returns from a deployment. Cooper’s portrayal of Chris’ actions make Taya’s extremely accurate complaints more real. The modern communications of cell phones also allow Chris and Taya to speak on the phone before, during, or immediately after battles, which is a new and odd development in modern warfare. If viewers don’t know the true story, the end has a moving shock.

Although American Sniper has plenty of battlefield action, the film’s real appeal in the dramatic dive into the psyche of Chris Kyle and the responsibility he feels to “God, Country, and Family.” He is driven to capture Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his vicious second-in-command, the Butcher (Mido Hamada), and to kill the former Olympian and Syrian-born sniper Mustafa (Sammy Sheik), whose precision matches Chris’s own. Kyle descends into obsession, especially after the Butcher brutalizes the family of an Iraqi sheikh (Navid Negahban) as the pinned-down American soldiers watch helplessly.

 American Sniper, a Warner Bros. release, runs 132 minutes and is rated R for strong and disturbing war violence, and language throughout including some sexual references. Eastwood’s patriotic biopic with a twist of psychological drama, American Sniper, is in theaters now.

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