American Sniper
Dir: Clint Eastwood
2014
**
I remember a family gathering from my childhood where I listened to my Grandfather and Great Uncles talk about various war stories. My Grandfather was in WW1 whereby the others served in WW2. My Grandfather spoke about where he'd been and who he'd met and my Great Uncles would talk about the planes they flew and the comradery they still had for their comrades still alive. I listened in awe of these men whom I highly respected. I then made the mistake of asking if they'd ever killed anyone. My three Great Uncles gave very different responses, one looked at me with suspicion the way the older generation often looks at the younger (silly really as I was 10), one went straight to my father to essentially get me out of the room and the third shouted at me. My Gentle Grandfather took me in the other room and calmly informed me that it was the one thing never discussed or asked and those that do are shunned by the rest and are often found to be untruthful anyway. I'd learnt a valuable lesson. I know solders today who say the same. Maybe it should be spoken about and not bottled in on occasion but essentially what my Grandfather taught me is that it should never be boasted of. So when Navy Seal Chris Kyle was celebrated as someone with the largest kill count I immediately thought about what my Grandfather said. He undoubtedly saved lives, which really should be the focus, but boasting of how many one has killed is never a nice thing but totally open for discussion. This in truth should have been a documentary rather than a Clint Eastwood propaganda exercise. The conclusion of the film, a fascinating part of Chris Kyle's story isn't even explored, which is stupidly frustrating as it could have given a much better understanding of what the film was really all about. The narrative doesn't flow particularly well and things are missed and skipped over, all while far too much is crammed into a short space of time. I'm afraid I think for the first time Clint Eastwood is showing his age, he certainly shouldn't have left the scene with the horribly fake baby in, that scene above all made the film feel as unconvincing as it did. The actors, all of whom are great, didn't seem to have had the guidance they needed from the director, so what should have been a totally original and alternative War film, ended up being a horrible cliched mess. If I see another War film whereby the funeral attendees of a fallen solder jump at the sound of the 21 gun salute, I will scream. It's not all bad but it looks like any other War film, which it really shouldn't have been.