Film Review - American Sniper

So this is supposedly the film that will finally get Bradley Cooper an Oscar. Really? 

The only way that happens is if there is a major attack of biased voting from 'Merican Academy voters who all watch this with their brains switched off whilst waving flags.

In hindsight that makes it seems like Cooper doesn't deserve credit for this film. That is slightly harsh, he was perfectly adequate with what he is given. Sometimes he seems like he should be an arrogant dick, sometimes he should be suffering from PTSD or at least showing some sign of a conscience, sometimes he should be really happy. Yet through everything he is completely flat. Maybe this is intentional as they try to show a man so completely in control of everything that it allows him to pull the trigger on any target without the emotional consequences. 

Also it is hard to totally blame Eastwood's direction. He does labour the storytelling to the point that this is basically the slowest action film ever made. And he obviously puts pressure on Cooper to be as emotionally flat as he can be. However it is more realistic than the alternatives of crazy American heroes running around, seemingly bulletproof, whilst every shot they fire is instantly fatal. Eastwood also shies away from almost all of the special effects in order to keep his film rated for a wider audience. 

There is something of a hole in the story and the characterisation but they possibly come from trying to stay true to reality. The real problem comes from the styling. It jumps too much from year to year, scene to scene, without really developing the characters at all. Even when his character is meat to be changing and being affected by what the war is doing to him, we only get that because his wife points it out to us. 

The ending is rushed and doesn't really make sense, even less than the reality. The overall tone of the film is the usual bias towards America and the American military. Some of this is well covered but if you watch with even an ounce of skepticism you have to start wondering how much is true and where the lines are between the tweaks made for film-making (like cutting what sex and violence is seen on screen) to the almost blatant lies (e.g. I killed 8 but you can only confirm 6 and I say one of those had a rifle but there is no actual evidence of it at the scene). 

Some work needed to really turn this into the film it should have been. 

Rating 7 /10.