Film review: American Sniper - war's psychological impact in focus

Like Kathryn Bigelow's multiple Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, Clint Eastwood's American Sniper tells the story of an American military man who distinguished himself in Iraq but found the going more trying back in the US. And as with Peter Berg's Lone Survivor, this action drama draws upon an autobiography written by a Navy SEAL who took part in a war where children and adults alike were looked upon as likely enemy combatants.

But in the man officially credited as the most lethal sharpshooter in US military history, this film possesses a protagonist with a thought-provoking story that, even when it looks to closely focus on him, has much to say about the effects of war on individuals, their families and their country.

A Texas ranch hand and sometime bronco rodeo rider who enlisted after the 1998 terrorist bombings of the US Embassy in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) put his ace marksmanship to lethal use on four tours of duty in Iraq. Between his stints there, the increasingly battle-scarred and psychologically affected war veteran spent time back home with his family — but, as his wife Taya (Sienna Miller) increasingly felt, it often seemed like he mentally remained thousands of miles away.

Impressively buffed up and speaking with a Texas twang, Cooper plays his character as an unmitigated patriot even while Eastwood intriguingly fashions his film to reveal that Kyle's straightforward view of what's happening in the world is at odds with reality.

Kyle may look upon the Iraqis as "f****** savages" but, as a fellow combatant tells him, "there's evil everywhere". American Sniper's ability to work on various levels and include different perspectives makes its tale more widely compelling.

American Sniper opens on January 22