I’ve said before that sometimes I need time before I write about a movie. Usually, that’s just a couple or a few days to let a movie sit and settle inside of my mind, wanting my review to reflect not only my gut reaction but also any lingering impressions. American Sniper, though, took weeks.
Several days after I saw the film, as friend asked me about it. I could barely do anything but sputter a flood of words, there was so much in my head about this film. I knew then, it wasn’t yet time to write. A week later, another friend asked, and I was semi-coherent, but the emotion was still too strong. Still another week passed, and finally, I was able to discuss the movie even with a near-stranger, tempering much of the frustration that I’d been trying to work through for weeks. I’ve waited a few more weeks still, wanting to be gentle to those who put this film on such a high pedestal while also being true to myself and why this movie was not great.
First, my thoughts about the movie are not about the war, our role there, or the use of snipers in the military. I have immense respect for and gratitude for those who serve in our armed forces and for their risks and sacrifices. This is not about that.
My thoughts here are about a movie that was good. But it could have been spectacular. And it wasn’t. It was flat and one-note. It spoke to too many of the masses who don’t want to see difficult issues on a film but instead want the shallow big-appeal film that appears to portray patriotism (I remind you of my discussion of Foxcatcher and my pondering the definition of patriotism there; this is what I referred to). I do understand that: many films like this one make hundreds of millions of dollars without being great because it provides one-dimensional entertainment that appeals to a large majority. American Sniper is such a film.
Of course, American Sniper also stars Bradley Cooper, and for that, this movie rises above so many of those others it is similar to. Bradley Cooper does indeed shine here. He portrays Kyle likely better than Kyle did himself, which, of course, is part of the problem. But Cooper does make this movie more than just a box-office smash. He does bring the art to this film. And Eastwood does do a fantastic job with what he does. He just doesn’t do enough.
Why do I describe it as merely good? From everything I’ve heard, the film seems to be quite the direct adaptation of the book. And that’s another part of the problem: from everything I’ve heard, the book is a poor excuse for a memoir. It instead is a self-aggrandizing account of a person who wants to showcase his heroism while giving but a nod to the underlying issues that run through his life, almost certainly because the author had in no way lived enough beyond the events in the movie to have gained perspective on his life or wisdom enough to see the grander issues involved to to gain the perspective needed to reflect back on his experience to see it in a broader light.
Some might want to interrupt here and say that Kyle was robbed of that because he was killed. But keep in mind that Kyle had not only finished this book and published it, but he had already made the media circuit promoting it, while doing so, telling lies about his life and what really happened that didn’t make the pages—lies that his publishing company warned him not to tell, but that once he did, it also celebrated how those lies would promote the book’s sales. Kyle was not killed until a year later.
This is the first door the movie closes to greatness. The movie could have explored what made this man need to stretch his already amazing truth, one that needed no embellishment. Was it inherent in his being (as portrayed by the person early in the film?)? Or was it something that developed in his very solo time working as a sniper on four tours? How did this need to falsify what his past included relate to a portrayed pattern of disobeying orders (and why in the green blazes did no one seem to be bothered by that as portrayed in the film?)? And did any of this have anything to do with the seeming failure of the military to step in earlier to offer–to INSIST on–counseling for a person who is credited with over 160 direct kills over four tours? And how did that intertwine with his seeming dismissal of the severity of PTSD? Instead, I saw on the film a man who seemed to think one just “bucks up” and gets over it, ignoring any of the deeper issues and instead working through those by shooting.
Oh dear. I said I was discussing the first door the movie closed, but I then went on down the hallway of all the other doors the movie closes, shuts, slams, and simply ignores. Everything behind these doors could have made this movie great. Instead, it was just good.
Yes, the movie is good. It tells a compelling story that kisses the edge of going to great places. But it also manipulates the viewer, as any great movie does. It sets up a silent theater at the end, having real images followed by closing credits with absolutely no music accompaniment. It tugs at the heart as Kyle struggles with whether to shoot a child. And it glances the border of digging into issues related to PTSD and its effect on families and relationships, but disappointedly, just glossing through this part of Kyle’s life.
I’ve heard people say what a hero Kyle was. I’m not saying that he did not do amazing things to protect the soldiers he protected in Iraq; I’m sure he did. I’m not saying he was not a great soldier. (Although I wonder what four tours as a sniper credited with over 160 kills really does to a person.) See, the problem is that I’m also not willing to ignore all of the other issues surrounding his story. Sure, someone can be heroic in one part of his life and not another. But then he’s not a full hero. He’s human. There’s nothing wrong with that. But then his entire story needs to be considered, not just the part we *want* to promote. Telling the entire story would have been great. It could have been spectacular.
Instead, this was merely good.
And frankly, it was safe. Safe is not Best Picture. Safe is Box Office Millions.
Safe works for the masses.