American Sniper review: Bradley Cooper is in nerve-jangling chaos

Director: Clint Eastwood; Screenwriter: Jason Hall; Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Max Charles, Kyle Gallner; Running time: 132 mins; Certificate: 15

There is much to admire about American Sniper, including a stalwart performance by Bradley Cooper and the measured, steady approach of Clint Eastwood behind the camera, but a question mark hangs over whether real-life Navy SEAL Chris Kyle – on whose memoir the film is based – should be set so high on a pedestal.

Kyle is described as "America's deadliest sniper" and although the point is never clarified in the film, it is Kyle who made this proclamation of himself. That kind of brash gesture feels at odds with the humble family man Cooper portrays, but it's easy to see why his story appealed to Eastwood because, early on, Kyle fancies himself as a cowboy, working the Texas rodeo circuit, and he takes that straight-as-an-arrow 'man's gotta do' philosophy out onto the battlefield in Iraq, post 9/11.

Eastwood evokes nerve-jangling chaos in close quarters with the fighting taking place mostly in built-up areas, but taking Kyle's point-of-view – often high up, usually from a rooftop – offers a different perspective (especially compared with the more visceral feel of The Hurt Locker). To a limited extent, Kyle is detached from what is happening and at the same time, he is driven by a passion to defend the country he loves. There is no doubt he will pull the trigger when absolutely necessary - which, rather than dissipate the tension leading up to those decisive moments, stirs a deeper well of emotion.

It's this illustration of post-traumatic stress that affects so many veterans of war which gives the film a haunting edge.

More than an action film, this is a melodrama that demonstrates rather than examines the psychological burden of having to decide who lives and who dies. There are highly emotive scenes, with women and children being put in the crosshairs - and what is both fascinating and troubling about the aftermath of each tour of duty is that Kyle is plagued not by the lives he took, but by the lives he could not save. A type of Messiah complex appears to be taking hold and rather than probe that too deeply, Eastwood joins in the hero worship.

Kyle is presented as a tragic hero, unable to assimilate to life back home between four tours of duty while his wife and the mother of his two children tries desperately to reach the man she fell in love with. It is a one-note role for Sienna Miller who risks coming across like a nag, although she is an effective mirror for the fading reflection of Chris Kyle. Of course, he can only distance himself from his own emotions for so long, and it's this illustration of post-traumatic stress that affects so many veterans of war which gives the film a haunting edge.

Kyle was nicknamed "Legend" by his fellow soldiers, echoing a point made in the classic western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance about the legend being more prized than the unvarnished truth. The director who brought you Unforgiven (also about the business of killing) appears to be leaning back towards that idea - but these are different times, and maybe even Clint Eastwood needs a hero to look up to.