This immensely powerful true story is not only one of Eastwood's best 'war' films as director, but American Sniper will also go down as one of the best contemporary films of the genre. The journey from directionless hick to crack Navy SEAL sniper to the bitter aftermath of service has been charted many times before, but here the character arc is well mapped-out and digs deep for a hugely invested performance by Bradley Cooper, with equal success and sweeping character arc from Sienna Miller as his wife. The plucked-from-the-headlines recognisable scenarios and the very unsensational presentational style give the film a real grounding and immediacy, there are a couple of very tense scenes indeed, and the conclusion has an unavoidable and fully-merited poignancy. This long film really does take the viewer on a significant journey with characters, and it is an undeniable triumph of acting and directing.
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