Film Review: Eastwood’s ‘American Sniper’ limits its aim

Clint Eastwood is not only working at 84; he’s working hard. “American Sniper” is his second film this year, following “Jersey Boys,” the lightweight but impeccably crafted and hugely entertaining Four Seasons biopic. “Bird,” back in 1988, was his first biopic; but, curiously, he didn’t revisit the genre until “Invictus” 21 years later. More curiously, toss in “American Sniper” and “J. Edgar,” and four of his last five films have been biopics. Their subjects have been legendary, albeit in very different ways.

The title and the log line — which refers to the central character as “the most lethal sniper in U.S. history” — could easily lead true crime fans to expect the Charles Whitman Story, but they in fact refer to Chris Kyle, a sniper of a different sort.

Kyle was a Navy SEAL, who is credited with over 160 kills. He did four tours of duty in Iraq, where he became known among American troops as “the legend.”

Bradley Cooper — beefed up almost beyond recognition — plays Kyle as a self-effacing guy, so intent on doing his duty that, not only is he continually in harm’s way, but his marriage and family life are threatened.

In the opening scene — an embellished version of the beginning of Kyle’s autobiography — we see him sweating over having to shoot a woman and a child after he sees that they are about to throw a grenade at a group of Marines. The human conflict is written all over Cooper’s face. Kyle describes it in similar terms, but then goes on to declare his absolute certainty that he’s on the righteous side fighting evil.

Eastwood makes war exciting, but he also makes it hell, much as Kathryn Bigelow did in “The Hurt Locker,” the obvious comparison. In particular, “American Sniper” is concerned with the damage war does to soldiers, not just physically, but psychologically and spiritually as well.

Actually, let’s qualify that: “American Sniper” is concerned with the damage war does to American soldiers. One can argue about whether every Iraq War film has to present a political context; but this one surely does. Eastwood tones down the black-and-white attitude Kyle expresses ˜in his book — American lives equals invaluable; Iraqi lives equals inconsequential. Perhaps we are to assume that of course the hero will distinguish between Iraqi fighters and Iraqi civilians, but there’s little evidence of it. When Kyle calls the enemy “savages,” it sounds like a racial classification, not a political one.

Even toning it down, Eastwood manages to give us almost no sympathetic Iraqis. Even if we try our hardest to avoid civilian casualties, it’s clear that any number of Iraqi lives can be taken to save one American life.

The film also avoids the issue of what the hell we were doing there in the first place. It’s a given that we’re the good guys, even though we were the invaders. Being generous and crediting the film with distinguishing civilians from combatants more than it does, the fact is that the combatants (and their civilian allies) are responding to our invasion.

The craftsmanship here is as impeccable as it was in “Jersey Boys.” Eastwood cares deeply about music, even (for better or worse) composing the scores for several of his films, so it’s surprising that “American Sniper” has almost none. Eastwood uses an Ennio Morricone track from the ’60s and wrote one theme himself. But the most effective part of the score, apparently uncredited, are the all-percussion tracks accompanying some of the fighting scenes.

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).