American Sniper (2014)

AMERICAN SNIPER  (2014)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Clint Eastwood
    Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner
Clint Eastwood's controversial Iraq War movie tracks the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle from small-town Texas through four combat tours, during which he became the deadliest sharpshooter in U.S. military history. The Iraq sequences, filmed in Morocco, are undeniably intense, in a league with "The Hurt Locker", and another testament to Eastwood's seemingly effortless skill as a filmmaker. There's no character development beyond Bradley Cooper's Oscar-nominated performance as Kyle. Even Sienna Miller, who's very good as Kyle's wife, is stuck playing a role that's mostly a cliché. While attention to the politics of the war is minimal, there's an implied connection between 9/11 and Iraq that some might find misleading, if not disturbing. The Iraqis are repeatedly dismissed as "savages," and Kyle's stated justification for the war (and his own participation) is the old Cold War mantra that if we don't fight them over there, we'll be fighting them in San Diego. Conspicuously missing is any recognition that the "savages" might view themselves as patriots defending their own land against an invading army, and that for them, it is San Diego.