My Brief Opinion on American Sniper (2014)

            I know that the popular mass opinion is that American Sniper is a great movie. Many even consider it to be one of the best war-related movies we’ve had in a while. But to me, it is just a good movie. Not great, not phenomenal, just good. Honestly, it is a B movie at best. The only times I enjoyed watching the movie was when Chris Kyle (protagonist) was at war. Every time he was home simply irked me. I could not believe that his own wife could not recognize that her husband, having gone through so many tours, had an illness which was essentially PTSD. Once they did find out, she did not try to help him. Instead, she would keep saying that she wanted her old husband who was the man she married before Chris had gone to war.

            Another main issue that bothered me was that there was no character development. Because of this, I felt no real attachment to anyone in the movie. Even Chris, the man you’re supposed to root for throughout the ordeal, did not change much at all throughout the film. When his fellow soldiers are shot and killed, I understand that you’re supposed to feel bad, but because those characters were never really developed, I did not feel the way the directors probably wanted me to feel. Basically, I was just indifferent throughout the entire movie.

            Don’t get me wrong, I did not hate this movie, I simply didn’t love it. There were many more issues (including the fake baby which I will not get into) that really downgraded the film from being an A-movie. I actually recommend audiences to watch recent movie Lone Survivor because I feel that it was able to present a much more balanced movie with better development both character and plot-wise. Other than that, it is a okay movie. I do not believe it deserves its Oscar nominations at all. I do not think that it was good enough to be considered an Oscar caliber movie especially one that was able to edge out Foxcatcher or even Nightcrawler. Even Bradley Cooper’s performance is not one that warrants a nomination over the powerful performances of David Oyelowo in Selma and Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. But that does not matter anymore. Again, American Sniper is good, but I recommend you save your money and simply rent it first to truly determine for yourself.