The wife was SO Annoying! Cooper should have won the Oscar though
American Sniper is Clint Eastwood's film depicting one of the most lethal snipers in American History. Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is a U.S. Navy Seal and it becomes his sole mission to protect his comrades and fight the Iraq War.
Whilst Cooper gives an epic performance (his best work to date) that earned him an Academy Award nomination, his wife (played by the horrid Sienna Miller) is terrible. The actress is rail thin, self-centered, unaware of what soldiers go through to fight for their country, and who's main dialogue mostly consists of "You're here...but you're not REALLY here." Ugh. The fact that this was such a prestigious picture with all the bases covered, Oscar winning sound effects and strong editing on the battle fields make me cringe when ever she shows up. Perhaps they got different screenwriters to pen the domestic Homelife scenes, but I hated her. I can't even remember how to spell her name right.
They also used a fake baby for the hospital scene. With a $100+ million budget, you're telling me they couldn't find a real baby? Despite the two little ones that called in sick? Eastwood is better than this. However, like Gran Torino, he seems to be slipping into more conservative values and sexist treatment of women. Why couldn't Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie or even Frances McDormand (she can play anything!) have been cast as the wife? Who is Sienna Miller, and how did her atrocious acting get past the dailies and auditions? She must have known someone.
The wife is also always complaining about Cooper's character "going back again", even though he's a HERO!!!! A legend. Everyone looks up to him. He's saved countless lives, and she is such a dense bimbo she could care less. It figures he met her in a bar where she was already choking down shots of tequila.
Maybe the filmmakers wanted a less complex wife so the focus could be the Iraq scenes, which are played splendidly. Regardless, because of Miller I have to take off a letter grade. Eastwood could have won best picture here, since Birdman was not my cup of tea, and The Grand Budapest Hotel was too sophisticated to take the top honor.
Cooper should have won, giving a sustained and powerful performance that is immersive and frightening at the same time. He lost to the long forgotten Eddy Redmayne in The Theory of Everything, a hokey biopic that tries to be like A Beautiful Mind but bombs as boring dribble. If it's any consolation, Bradley won the MTV Movie Award for best actor. Before you go saying "Oh that doesn't count"- just remember usually that awards body hands out movies like Twilight everything. It was nice to see his performance was so impactful, even the younger generation couldn't deny his brilliance in the role.
American Sniper earned more then $540 million at the box-office in 2014, and was nominated for 6 Academy Awards- for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and winner of Best Sound-Editing. Available on Amazon Prime in UHD.
FINAL GRADE: B