[Last Film I Saw] American Sniper (2014) [7/10]

Title: American Sniper
Year: 2014
Country: USA
Language: English, Arabic
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama, War
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers:
Jason Hall
Chris Kyle
Cinematography: Tom Stern
Cast:
Bradley Cooper
Sienna Miller
Luke Grimes
Jake McDorman
Keir O'Donnell
Sammy Sheik
Mido Hamada
Kevin Lacz
Navid Negahban
Kyle Gallner
Jonathan Groff
Robert Clotworthy
Cory Hardrict
Sam Jaeger
Chance Kelly
Ben Reed
Brando Eaton
Rating: 7/10

Amid its unanticipated parade into this year’s Oscar race (6 nominations including BEST PICTURE and BEST LEADING ACTOR) as an extremely late contender, and more astonishingly, its domestic box-office outburst since last week, Mr. Eastwood’s biography of Chris Kyle, the most prolific Navy SEAL sniper, arrives to the fore in Egypt.

The film stirs a massive controversy in the states albeit it has achieved a career peak for the octogenarian film legend, as there is a pungent odour of jingoism permeating the narrative, particularly centres on its defamatory depiction of Muslin race in the Iraqi war zone, what is exacerbating is that under the current international circumstances, it doesn’t help to dissipate the acute prejudice in the stateside, pitifully, Eastwood could not been more open-minded in his well-executed anti-war drama.

Conspicuously, this film is relentlessly sending an ant-war message from A to Z, but it could be shallowly misread as a bias propaganda simply because the whole perspective is from the slant of Americans, how perilous the frontline is, how the inner struggle comes to pester his conscience when Kyle (Cooper) is facing menaces from suicidal children and women, how devastating when the casualty befalls on your teammate, etc, while mistreating the middle east counterpart as canon fodder or barbarous murders (even towards their own kind).

Back to home, Kyle (Cooper)’s PTSD symptoms are zoomed in on empathetically, from his withdrawn numbness stiffly obstructing a normal communication with his wife Taya (Miller), to his fitful violent behaviour due to his hallucination or an aggressive paranoid towards the quotidian life, Kyle’s hero-status is not a desirable one, when praised by a young veteran (a delightful cameo from Jonathan Groff), whose life he once saved, Kyle’s robotic reaction potently suggests that it means nothing to him, even though he proudly proclaims that saving lives is the noble cause for his actions.

Indeed, if one can discard the miasma of racial disrespect (frankly speaking, a very difficult task to pull off), Eastwood has made quite an engaging film to behold, the incontrovertible grip to his brainchild can be traced seamlessly through the horizon-widening hovering shots by DP Tom Stern, the stifling sound department throughout the taut action sequences, the life-or-death suspense within one trigger by its swift editing and an end-game retreat in a lifelike sand storm.

Bradley Cooper gives a formidable performance here, a sea change in his physique is too evident to ignore, but Kyle’s elusive persona doesn’t proffer too much Oscar-worthy moments for his, we can only assume that Academy is still in the honeymoon period with him, three nominations in a row is an overachiever (especially considering the über-competitive candidates this year) which seems to boomerang within certain time (as the case for my ginger goddess Amy Adams). Sienna Miller, whose career has been in the stagnant water for years, certainly receives a stimulating boost this year, after a small part in another Oscar-hopeful FOXCATCHER (2014), her role as a supportive wife pans out convincingly without any bells and whistles to enliven Taya to be a character with any noteworthy novelty, only to testify she has honed up her acting chops and can shoulder on some more challenging projects now.

AMERICAN SNIPER cannot evade to be compared with Kathryn Bigelow’s THE HURT LOCKER (2008, 8/10), which is far more humane and non judgmental in its integrity. Theoretically it could have been a top dog in its game, but Eastwood’s right-wing stand does taint its wholesome awesomeness, however as far as profit is concerned, we onlookers should not bark at the moon, it certainly eclipses everybody’s expectations, there is no losers in this round, notwithstanding that it is a shade pathetic the sensation falls upon this ill-devised picture.

http://lasttimeisawdotcom.wordpress.com/
Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench