PERHAPS YOU, or someone you love, saw The Hurt Locker, director Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning story of a bomb-defusing sergeant in the Iraq War who can’t disengage from his duties and ends up returning to the country for multiple tours. And perhaps you, or someone you love, thought it wasn’t “American” enough. Well, do I have the film for you!
American Sniper is basically The Hurt Locker rewritten for love-it-or-leave-it-style Americans who hate war movies that depict our enemies as actual people, rather than evil, swarthy stereotypes. However, unlike The Hurt Locker, American Sniper seriously lacks a sense of forward momentum and suspense… sooooo… hope that’s not a deal breaker.
Directed by Clint Eastwood (last seen addressing an empty chair at the 2012 Republican Convention [never forget]), American Sniper tells the sorta-kinda-somewhat true story of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who the movie repeatedly reminds us was “the most lethal sniper in US military history.” (This has not been officially confirmed, so we’re just going to have to take Eastwood’s word for it.) The movie also tells us Chris became interested in killing things at a very young age, thanks to his Texan hillbilly father, who, one night over dinner, brusquely informs him, “Son, in this world there are only sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs… and [slams his belt down on the table for effect] YOU BETTER BE A SHEEPDOG!” Point noted, Dad!
