The Case for American Sniping

The trailer for American Sniper did little for me, but based on the strength of the critical reaction (some of it very critical indeed), I thought I really ought to give it a try.

It was a hot and muggy Titan XC session and the airconditioning seemed almost non existent.  And while the heat was possibly adding another “dimension” to the film that is mainly set in the desert, I am pretty sure the Iraqi warmth was a dry one.

Bradley Cooper plays a straight forward, no nonsense, god fearing and very up and down white American patriot, Chris Kyle, who joins the Navy Seals to defend the USA from her enemies, and does a damned good job of it too.  His marksmanship pushes his status amongst his fellow troopers into the “legendary” category, and it is not surprising that he gets the respect of all those who serve with him.

But while you have to respect him, I found it really hard to like either the actor or the character. 

[And now I will put in a SPOILER ALERT as the rest of this will contain movie spoilers, even though I think there is not really much to “spoil” in the film as there aren’t really many surprises along the way.]

Kyle is not particularly dynamic or nuanced, not particularly deep, and doesn’t really inspire either.  During one tour, Kyle takes command of a group of marines, and while the SEAL has evidently killed more people than those in the group, there is no evidence shown that he would actually be any better at storming into a person’s home and making demands than any of the others.  Indeed, the disrespect to the local inhabitants by the invading forces is probably quite real and also one of the issues that people have with the film.  For me, the former balances out the latter, though it is still disturbing to watch.

While some of Kyle’s compatriots have crises of faith, Kyle’s belief in the righteousness of his actions – that is, of protecting his fellow soldiers – is unshakeable, and he doesn’t understand and even condemns those who falter.  That’s not to say he disagrees with their questions about the meaning of the war.  He doesn’t even try to understand them at all, meaning there is a blankness and emptiness to most of his relationships, including that with his brother.  The film shows that Kyle is a compassionate man for those who suffer physical disability, but when it comes to anything psychological, he has no empathy or understanding at all.  Only in his relationship with his wife and children is there any sense of depth with the character, and even then, it all seems fairly bland.

The action scenes on the other hand are tense and well paced – when you can see them through the blowing sands.  However, the “sniper” scenes in particular feel very “movie-ised” and (to a admittedly very novice and inexperienced person like me) seem much less authentic than the (possibly more movie-ised) portrayals in films like The Hurt Locker.

So its not at all surprising that Kyle is an American hero because he really is the definition of the unthinking, unswerving, completely loyal patriot.  I wasn’t offended then by the film’s flag waving or whatever else the critics have disagreed with as, to be honest, I didn’t really care for the character of Kyle very much, and possibly would not have been too impressed by the man.  His appeal is one that doesn’t resonate with me, and I ended up more interested in the secondary characters than Kyle himself.  But then, not everyone around does have hidden depth – sometimes the surface is really all there is to see.

Verdict: American Sniper is an interesting tale, competently  told, well acted, but ultimately, due to its rather black and white main character, it ends up quite unengaging.  For me, uninspired by the main character and with no one else to really “root” for, it was a tense action movie with little emotional depth.  6 screwdrivers out of 10.