Reel Reviews

American Sniper -- Sometimes it’s good to be behind the times. Like, for instance, when you watch a movie a year after it hits theaters, and all of its accompanying controversy has receded into the background. This film would probably have been hard to judge when it first arrived, given the heated atmosphere surrounding it then. When viewed with some perspective, you can judge this film clearly: a very good movie featuring an excellent performance by Bradley Cooper, and not nearly as much jingo as its harshest critics believed. As usual, director Clint Eastwood brings much more nuance to a potentially propagandistic subject than the casual observer might expect. Certainly, he clearly shows that, for all his gung-ho, Chris Kyle paid an enormous price for his time in Iraq--and as such stands as an appropriate metaphor for the nation as a whole. Definitely worth a look.