 |
| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
When
you’ve been making movies as long as Clint Eastwood, they’re not all going to
be winners. That’s what I kept telling myself last summer when his Jersey
Boys adaptation was a misfire on almost every level. It was clear the gruff,
no-nonsense filmmaker wasn’t a good fit with the Broadway-style material, so I
chalked it up to a guy who wanted to step out of his comfort zone a bit.
I’m
happy to say Eastwood rebounds nicely with American Sniper, which is a much better
match of director and subject matter. The film is a dramatized take on the life
of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL who served four tours in Iraq and was proclaimed the
most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. While not an instant classic, it’s
still a grim, tough look at the sacrifices our country asks soldiers and their
families to make, and the transformations they undergo as a result.
Bradley
Cooper delivers the best work of his career as Kyle, who viewers meet as he
stares through his rifle’s scope at a young Iraqi boy. He has only seconds to
determine if the kid poses a threat to his fellow soldiers. A wrong decision
could mean the death of men he is sworn to protect. But, in this case, a
“right” call could mean killing a child. It’s a terrible, unfathomable
situation no matter how you look at it.
Before
viewers learn the outcome, Eastwood turns back the clock to crucial moments in
Kyle’s adolescence, such as his first hunting trip with his father. Or a dinner
table speech in which he’s told that people fall into one of three categories: sheep,
wolves or shepherds. To say these events inform his worldview is an
understatement.
After
that, we see Kyle in his 20s, drifting aimlessly through life, unsure what he’s
supposed to do next. Following a failed stint as a rodeo cowboy, he enlists in
the military after terrorists attack an American embassy overseas. Eventually,
he meets Taya (Sienna Miller) – who will become his wife – and he’s called to
war shortly after their wedding and the horrific events of Sept. 11. That’s
when we catch up with the narrative and discover the fateful choice Kyle makes
regarding the Iraqi boy, as well as what else happens to him at home and abroad
during his four tours.
American
Sniper is reminiscent of The Hurt Locker in its depiction of the way combat
veterans aren’t sure how to live in an environment that doesn’t involve people
trying to shoot at them or blow them up. As a result, situations like a van
following Kyle’s truck too closely or a dog getting too rambunctious at a kid’s
birthday party become scenes of unbearable tension thanks to Cooper’s hulking, tightly-coiled
performance.
Miller
doesn’t get much to do as Kyle’s wife – aside from the funny, sweet scene when
the two meet – other than complain that he’s never home. But the British
actress’ unsteady American accent suggests that might not be such a bad thing.
One
of her scenes with Cooper, an argument that takes place following the birth of
the Kyles’ second child, is absolutely horrible, although the actors aren’t to
blame. The fault lies with Eastwood, who uses the worst fake baby I’ve ever
seen in a mainstream motion picture.
The
scene, set in their daughter’s nursery, is supposed to find the couple at a
dramatic crossroads in their relationship, but it ends up being unintentionally
hilarious. They look like they’re holding a cheap doll someone picked up at
Wal-Mart. In one shot, you can even see Cooper trying to subtly use his arm to
make it seem like the baby’s hand is moving. I couldn’t hear most of the
dialogue because the audience was laughing so hard. I honestly can’t believe
anyone connected to the film saw that shot and decided it was acceptable to
include in the finished product.
What
I find most curious about American Sniper is Eastwood’s decision to omit the
more controversial elements of Kyle’s life. There’s no question that he was a
stellar solider and an astonishing marksman, someone who likely saved far more
lives than he took. But he was also concerned with maintaining his
larger-than-life stature.
In
several interviews promoting his autobiography, Kyle boasted of killing
carjackers, picking off looters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and
getting in a bar fight with Jesse Ventura after the former governor supposedly made
disparaging comments about soldiers. But there’s no evidence that these events
took place – in fact, Ventura recently won a $1.8 million defamation lawsuit
against Kyle’s estate.
I
get why Eastwood leaves these elements out of the film – they complicate the simpler
image of the noble, duty-bound archetype he and screenwriter Jason Hall are
trying to construct. Selling a flawed protagonist is a tougher job than
depicting a golden boy whose black-and-white, good-versus-evil worldview is
comforting when the world is growing more complicated by the day.
A complex,
warts-and-all depiction of Kyle’s tragic story would have been far more interesting,
although it’s dumb to disparage the movie that actually exists for not being
the one I would’ve preferred. Still, I can’t help but wonder what Steven
Spielberg’s take on the material would’ve been like.
The
director of Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List and Munich, who proved
with those films that he’s not one to shy away from asking tough questions
about the nature of war, flirted with the project for a while before ultimately
passing on it. No offense to Eastwood’s version of American Sniper, which is
fine. At times, it’s even very good. But it had the potential to be great.
American
Sniper is rated R for strong and disturbing war violence, and language
throughout including some sexual references.
Grade:
B
Comments
Post a Comment