American Sniper

With his best film since at least 2008’s Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood revisits his long preoccupation with guns and their capabilities, although the recoil of American Sniper doesn’t have the same moral reverb of Eastwood’s finest work. Based on the memoir by Chris Kyle (Cooper, a dramatic revelation) – who, during the course of four tours in Iraq, became the most prolific sniper in the annals of U.S. military history – the film exists in a black-and-white world in which only good and evil abide. This sense of dichotomy, which served Kyle so well in combat, becomes a liability upon his difficult reentry into civilian life. Eastwood’s touch is most clearly evident in the film’s action sequences – packed with zealous clarity and tense dynamism – but American Sniper, to its credit, shows no interest in creating blind heroics and, instead, upholds the nickname Kyle earned in Iraq: the Legend.