--- title: "American Sniper" year: 2014 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/american-sniper" fi1m_score: 58 critics_score: 64 critics_reviews: 23 published: "2026-09-20T07:42:41.662918+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T07:43:01.193207+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # American Sniper (2014) Directed by Clint Eastwood · 2h 13m · MPA R · War, Action **Fi1m score: 58** · Critics 64 from 23 reviews *In a sentence:* Two hours looking down a rifle at people the film has no intention of introducing > Clint Eastwood’s film about the Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is tense whenever Bradley Cooper is on a rooftop, and Sienna Miller does more than the script gives her. It never once asks who is on the other end of the shot. ## Synopsis Fallujah, Iraq. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) lies on a rooftop with a marine convoy approaching and a woman and a boy stepping into the street below. The film then goes back to Texas: a boy (Cole Konis) taught by his father Wayne Kyle (Ben Reed) that people are sheep, wolves or sheepdogs; a rodeo rider who sees the 1998 embassy bombings on television and joins the SEALs; a bar where he meets Taya (Sienna Miller), who tells him she wants nothing to do with SEALs. After 11 September 2001 he is deployed alongside Goat-Winston (Kyle Gallner) and Dauber (Kevin Lacz), and finds himself back on that rooftop, with seconds to decide whether the boy is carrying a grenade. ## Review Clint Eastwood’s film about Chris Kyle, adapted by Jason Hall from Kyle’s own memoir, is built the way Kyle’s job was: one man, one rifle, one narrow view of a street. The tagline calls him the most lethal sniper in U.S. history, and the film takes the phrase at face value. Four tours in Iraq, a wife and children in Texas, a count that keeps rising. It is tense and cleanly made, Bradley Cooper is good in it, and we cannot recommend it, because for 133 minutes it looks only where Kyle looks and never once turns round. The opening is the film at its best. Kyle lies on a rooftop over a Fallujah street, a marine convoy is coming, and a woman steps out with a boy and hands him something. Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach cut between the scope, Cooper’s eye, the street and the radio in his ear, and they hold each shot a beat longer than is comfortable. Eastwood keeps music almost entirely off the soundtrack, so there is only wind, the radio and breathing. We were tight in our seats and glad of it. Then we noticed the film had not the slightest interest in the woman, and the feeling curdled, and it never quite came back. Cooper plays Kyle as a man with no doubt in him, and puts the damage in his body instead. He is heavy, slow-blinking, quiet, and he spends the home stretches sitting in front of a television that is not switched on. Tom Stern shoots the Texas suburbs in flat, grey, overcast light, so the house Kyle comes back to looks colder than the war he leaves, and Deborah Hopper keeps him in the same hunting jacket and ball cap at home, as if he has never fully changed out of uniform. It is careful, physical acting, and Cooper makes a man who barely speaks worth watching for two hours. Sienna Miller has the harder job. Taya gets one scene per tour, and each is the same scene: he is going back, she says he is not there even when he is here, he says he is protecting people. Miller finds something different to do with her face each time, which is more than Hall’s script has bothered to. The scene in which Kyle takes her call from a rooftop while a firefight starts around him is the one time the film puts the two halves of his life in one frame, and it is a proper scene. The war itself is a matter of targets. James J. Murakami and Charisse Cardenas build Iraqi streets of rubble and rooftops, all the colour of the dust, and Stern bleaches them to a hot ochre, so that anyone moving stands out against a wall. That is how a sniper sees, and it is also how the film sees. There is an enforcer called the Butcher, whose methods we will not describe, and a rival sniper called Mustafa, dressed in black and given no lines. Every other Iraqi is a body in a doorway, a shape on a roof or a man who may or may not be reaching for something. Nobody in the film asks what they want, and nobody on screen appears to wonder. Eastwood has done this differently. In 2006 he made *Flags of Our Fathers* and [*Letters from Iwo Jima*](https://film.one/film/letters-from-iwo-jima), two films about one battle, one from each side, because he thought both sides had a story. Here he makes one film and points it one way. A sandstorm sequence late on, in which the fighting disappears into a wall of brown and the film with it, is the nearest he comes to saying the whole business made no sense, and it is over in minutes. The ending is abrupt in a way we will not describe, except to say that it hands the largest questions to a title card. See it for the rooftops, for Cooper, and for Miller doing a great deal with a little, and see it on a big screen, where the scope has room to work. Do not go looking for the war. It is not here. Only the man on the roof, and what he can see down a tube. *Fi1m score 58, published 20 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics come down in favour, though without much heat. The praise clusters on Bradley Cooper’s performance, which even the harshest reviewers single out, and on Eastwood’s handling of the sniper sequences, which several find as tense as anything in The Hurt Locker. A good number read the film as a study of what killing does to a committed soldier rather than a straightforward salute, and credit it with an undertow of sadness. The spread is wide, from raves to outright dismissals. The reservations gather around politics and the home front: Iraqis reduced to shadows, the war’s context left unexamined, repetitive domestic scenes and a rushed ending. The Guardian calls it an incurious salute that prints the legend, Collider finds it hollow and passionless, and Den of Geek judges it Eastwood’s worst. Even some who admire it, Little White Lies among them, call it ideologically muddled. Cooper is the one point on which nearly everyone agrees. ### Reviews we read (23) - **Empire**, Ian Nathan (90/100, inferred): Eastwood's film is a muscular, thrilling Iraq war story that honours heroism while ruminating on its costs to the man. Cooper gives a complex, nomination-worthy performance as the conflicted sniper. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/american-sniper-review/) - **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (4/5): Eastwood's matter-of-fact biopic centers on Cooper's confident performance as the lethal sniper, delivering heart-stopping suspense and insights into the psychological effects of warfare. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-g6cb6s/american-sniper/) - **Time Out**, Joshua Rothkopf (4/5): Eastwood delivers a superbly subtle critique of the Iraq War veteran experience, saluting soldiers while highlighting personal tragedy and family dysfunction at home; Cooper is at his best. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/american-sniper) - **Film Comment** (70/100, inferred): The review praises Eastwood's efficient direction and complex action set pieces, noting Cooper's strong portrayal of Kyle as a modest protector; it highlights the film's respectful yet probing take on war's moral costs while acknowledging production constraints and public debate around the subject. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/review-american-sniper-clint-eastwood/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): The film goes beyond standard war-hero biopics by examining the soul-destroying consequences of violence on even a committed patriot like Kyle. Eastwood crafts impeccable action sequences that immerse viewers in combat's relentlessness. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-american-sniper-review-20141225-column.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Chuck Bowen (70/100, inferred): Eastwood explores the myth of the hero through Kyle as a man relentlessly alone and unfulfilled, gripping viewers with hypnotic silence and visceral battle scenes tied to the character's tormented psyche. The film balances art and action while highlighting the alienating sadness of heroism. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/american-sniper/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (70/100, inferred): Eastwood's film is a taut, vivid and sad account that feels like a companion to The Hurt Locker, infusing a patriotic story with underlying pain and melancholy. Cooper delivers a physically transformed and dramatically assured performance as Kyle. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/american-sniper-afi-fest-review-748460/) - **The New Yorker**, David Denby (70/100, inferred): Eastwood’s film is both a devastating pro-war and antiwar movie, celebrating a warrior’s happiness while lamenting his alienation. It focuses on Kyle as a righteous assassin sure of his mission, with precise, purposeful action sequences. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/american-sniper-2) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (70/100, inferred): The film is a blunt, effective western-like tale of vengeance and justice that reaffirms Eastwood's themes, though it is also troubling. It derives power from the clarity and sincerity of its convictions about violence as a moral necessity. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/movies/american-sniper-a-clint-eastwood-film-starring-bradley-cooper.html) - **Total Film**, Neil Smith (70/100, inferred): Eastwood handles the tense, dramatic life of the sniper sensitively and respectfully, with Cooper delivering a subtle performance. The combat scenes grip like The Hurt Locker, though home scenes are repetitive. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/american-sniper-review/) - **Variety**, Scott Foundas (70/100, inferred): The film explores the powerful moral complexity of Eastwood’s work, presenting shades of gray rather than clear good versus evil. It demythologizes the American experience through Kyle’s story while allowing for varied audience reactions to its violence. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/columns/clint-eastwoods-walking-wounded-from-dirty-harry-to-american-sniper-1201392603/) - **Little White Lies**, Keith Uhlich (3/3/3): The film is grippingly made yet ideologically muddled, with Eastwood at his best detailing skirmishes but less sure on the homefront and the abrupt finale. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/american-sniper) - **Screen Daily** (60/100, inferred): The war drama lacks the moral complexity of Eastwood's earlier films but is affecting and riveting thanks to Cooper's subtle performance, though it simplifies Iraqi characters. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/american-sniper/5079898.article) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (30/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a gripping but incurious salute to US military muscle in Iraq that decides to print the legend rather than interrogate the facts. It singles out the first-person shooter aesthetic and tunnel vision that reduces the Iraqis to shadowy savages while leaving the war's wider context unexplored. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/21/clint-eastwood-heartfelt-tribute-us-muscle-iraq) - **Vulture** (30/100, inferred): Eastwood delivers crackling filmmaking but regresses morally, turning the story into a blinkered propaganda film and Republican platform movie that portrays the Iraq occupation simplistically through a rifle sight. Cooper is impressive as the grimly self-contained Kyle. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2014/12/movie-review-american-sniper.html) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (90/100, inferred): The film is Eastwood's finest and most impressive since Million Dollar Baby, a brilliant study of a warrior both on the battlefield and at home that gives equal weight to the toll on family life and psychological scars. It earns its stripes in a somber, non-flashy way and hits the bull's-eye for awards contention. [Read](https://deadline.com/2014/11/american-sniper-afi-fest-premiere-clint-eastwood-bradley-cooper-oscars-1201281801/) - **HeyUGuys**, Adam Lowes (80/100, inferred): Eastwood returns to strong form with economical storytelling that largely keeps jingoism in check, crafting an absorbing character study of a traumatized soldier. Cooper and Miller excel in understated performances, with gripping sniper sequences highlighting the uncertainties of conflict. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/american-sniper-review/) - **/Film**, Germain Lussier (7/10): The film is an ambitious but uneven effort that falls short of fully cohering its many parts despite strong individual moments and scenes. Cooper delivers one of his best performances in a worthy tribute to Kyle, though it remains only an above-average Eastwood work. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/534843/american-sniper-review/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B-): Eastwood crafts gripping sniper sequences and a convincing portrait of Kyle through Cooper's intense performance, returning to tense, restrained filmmaking. Misguided elements like a clichéd antagonist and underwritten home scenes prevent it from fully succeeding. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-clint-eastwoods-american-sniper-starring-bradley-cooper-sienna-miller-20150116/) - **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson (50/100, inferred): The film is gripping as Hollywood fiction but problematic for its factual origins, presenting Kyle sympathetically with little scrutiny of his actions or the wider context. It reduces PTSD to simplistic terms and frames the story as a new Wild West fable against faceless enemies. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/american-sniper-2014-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) - **Den of Geek**, Mark Harrison (2/5): The critic calls it the worst Eastwood film, faulting its jingoistic one-sidedness, inert pacing, faceless enemies and rushed epilogue that fails to develop Kyle as a character. Cooper's committed lead performance is singled out as a bright spot amid the problems. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/american-sniper-review-2/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (D-): The critic finds the film hollow and thoughtless, lacking nuance, pathos, or insight compared to The Hurt Locker, and criticizes Eastwood's direction as passionless and amoral while it avoids exploring the moral costs of Kyle's actions. Bradley Cooper's committed performance is the only real strength singled out. [Read](https://collider.com/american-sniper-review/) - **The Wrap**, Inkoo Kang (30/100, inferred): The film is an uncomplicated portrait of a man denied complexity and depth, with Eastwood's tight focus leaving other characters underdeveloped and moral issues around the war engaged only superficially. The repetitive action plays like a video game, though a sandstorm sequence stands out as visually arresting. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/american-sniper-review-bradley-cooper-clint-eastwood-sienna-miller/) ## Details - **Director:** Clint Eastwood - **Director:** Clint Eastwood - **Writer:** Jason Hall - **Cinematography:** Tom Stern - **Editor:** Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach - **Production design:** Charisse Cardenas, James J. Murakami - **Costume design:** Deborah Hopper - **Producer:** Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Andrew Lazar - **Cast:** Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle; Sienna Miller as Taya Renae Kyle; Kyle Gallner as Goat-Winston; Cole Konis as Young Chris Kyle; Ben Reed as Wayne Kyle; Elise Robertson as Debbie Kyle; Keir O'Donnell as Jeff Kyle; Luke Sunshine as Young Jeff Kyle - **Runtime:** 2h 13m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 16 January 2015 - **Genres:** War, Action - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2014) - **Budget:** $59 million - **Box office:** $542 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq7smHSQPho ## Where to watch in the US - Netflix: streaming - Apple TV: rent $5.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2015: Best Actor (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Sound (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Sound Editing (won) ## If you liked this - *The Hurt Locker* (2008), Fi1m 86: Bigelow’s bomb-disposal film, tighter, stranger and far more curious about the men it watches. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-hurt-locker.md) - *Flags of Our Fathers* (2006): Eastwood on a war-hero myth, this time willing to ask who built it. - *Enemy at the Gates* (2001): Two snipers stalk each other through Stalingrad; the duel this film only gestures at. - *Waltz with Bashir* (2008), Fi1m 83: An animated Israeli veteran tries to remember a war his mind has filed away. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/waltz-with-bashir.md) - *Restrepo* (2010): A year with one platoon in Afghanistan, no script, no rooftop, no comfort. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/american-sniper