American Sniper: Bradley Cooper hits the target

4 out of 4 stars

In American Hustle, Bradley Cooper set his sights on corrupt politicians. In the Hangover franchise, he set his sights on nights of debauchery. In Silver Linings Playbook, he had his sights set on hooking up with Jennifer Lawrence.

Bradley Cooper gives an Oscar-worthy performance portraying the late Chris Kyle in American Sniper.  (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
Bradley Cooper gives an Oscar-worthy performance portraying the late Chris Kyle in American Sniper.  (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

But in his latest film, American Sniper, Cooper has his sights set on something other than bad guys: an Oscar.

Cooper was nominated for best actor in American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, but it might take him playing a marksman to bag his first Academy Award. Cooper is up against Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Michael Keaton (Birdman) and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything).

Cooper is brilliant in American Sniper, a biopic based on the late Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle’s best-selling memoir. He commands the screen as a conventional war hero in an unconventional war in the Middle East, where he spent four tours in Iraq.

Cooper’s character is easy to like. He’s a tobacco-chewing, beer-swilling cowboy from Texas who joined the Navy after the 1998 bombings of American embassies to protect his country and kick ass.

And boy, did he kick ass.

With 160 confirmed kills, he’s the most deadly sniper in U.S. history, able to dot a sentence with a bullet from a rooftop hundreds of yards away. But Kyle isn’t a superhero who pumps his chest with every life he takes. He hates it when people call him “Legend” for his heroics in Iraq because no matter what he does, it’s never enough for him.

Bradley Cooper plays the late Chris Kyle, one of the most decorated and lethal marksmen in U.S. history, in American Sniper. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
Bradley Cooper plays the late Chris Kyle, one of the most decorated and lethal marksmen in U.S. history, in American Sniper. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

It’s easy for the audience to see Kyle’s insatiable desire to save every American soldier. He chooses his words carefully, letting his emotions do most of his talking.

Director Clint Eastwood’s fingerprints are all over the 132-minute film as he takes the audience through Kyle’s life, showing him how his upbringing and pursuit of patriotism made him numb to death. Even when Kyle returns home to be with wife Taya — played terrifically by Sienna Miller — he doesn’t confide in her what he’s seen overseas, making it seem like while he’s physically stateside, his mind remains on the battlefield.
Kyle’s focus is spent on trying to put a bullet in one man — a deadly accurate Syrian sniper who’s fixated on collecting the $180,000 bounty al-Qaeda has placed on his head.
Kyle is more haunted by the Marines he couldn’t save than the “savages” he’s killed. Whether it’s mistakenly interpreting his kids’ cheers of happiness with the shrieks of the wounded in Iraq or visiting injuring veterans stateside, Kyle is more consumed by what’s happening in the Middle East than in his home.
Sienna Miller gives a breakthrough performance as Chris Kyle's wife in American Sniper. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
Sienna Miller gives a breakthrough performance as Chris Kyle’s wife in American Sniper. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

Kyle’s war story isn’t told entirely through a scope. Eastwood puts him in plenty of battles alongside his unit on the Iraqi streets, where the cinematography makes the audience feel it’s embedded with Kyle’s unit amid gunfire and explosions.

It isn’t risky for Eastwood or screenwriter Jason Hall to bring Kyle’s book to life on the big screen. Moviegoers proved they love spending money to see an American kick the hell out of anyone wearing a turban. Mark Wahlberg’s portrayal of former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor made $149.3 worldwide ($125 domestic) off a $40 million budget in 2013. Expect American Sniper to hit similar marks at the box office.

kyle_middleton_memorialservices
Former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, left, and his friend Chad Littlefield were shot to death at an Erath County, Texas gun range on Feb. 2, 2013.

But unlike Luttrell, Kyle won’t see his story.

He was fatally shot  Feb. 2, 2013  along with a companion, Chad Littlefield, 35 of Dallas, Texas at the Rough Creek Ranch-Lodge resort shooting range in Erath County, Texas. He was trying to help a fellow Marine suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2013 — four years after Kyle was honorably discharged. Kyle’s service was held at Cowboy Stadium. Eddie Ray Routh, 25, the man whom Kyle and Littlefield had reportedly taken to the gun range in an effort to help him with PTSD, is awaiting trial.  

Fortunately for Kyle, his legacy is secure with American Sniper, which will endure long after his death.

One thought on “American Sniper: Bradley Cooper hits the target

  • February 8, 2015 at 4:47 PM
    Permalink

    Highly irresponsible to be treating such a fresh and unsettled subject
    with a techno beat, Hollywood ‘EYE—CON’—–job.

    And WHY is EASTWOOD continuing to BALK any treatment of the
    now 21st century DEFINING —–21st century LINCHPIN
    ————————————————————-KOREAN WAR?

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