Snipers are known for pinpoint accuracy. Missing is unacceptable. “American Sniper,” on the other hand, misses a few times but does a fine job.

“American Sniper” is an action biography directed by Clint Eastwood starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner and Keir O’Donnell.

Chris Kyle, played by Cooper, was the most lethal sniper in United States history. He has a 160 confirmed kills to his name but claims to have killed 225. After watching a news report on terrorist attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Kyle decides to join the military. He excels at Navy Seal training and is deployed to Iraq after 9/11.

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Kyle becomes a legend on the battlefield after his first tour of duty ends. Yet, he has trouble adjusting at home. Always searching for a higher purpose, Kyle develops what others classify as a savior complex. He serves four more tours of duty, just trying to find the thing missing inside himself.

Expectations going into the movie were unclear. On one hand, it stars Cooper, a man who has gained a career renaissance from roles in “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.” On the other hand, Eastwood’s directing career is at an all-time low. Both of these factors end up make the film adequate at best.

Cooper’s career high does not end here; any fault of the picture cannot be placed on him. The script and directing fail to make Kyle a real human being. Cooper makes up for their mistakes giving the character depth and complexity. With almost robotic facial expressions, he portrays a killing machine who is unable to find peace at home.

Eastwood’s directing is astounding in comparison to recent war genre bombs like “Lone Survivor.” While not breaking any grounds on action filmmaking, it also does not fully romanticize battle scenes. War looks like hell, even without the shaky cam technique directors like Christopher Nolan or Paul Greengrass employ.

It is almost always unclear who is to blame for a poor script. Screenwriters are rarely in complete creative control. Screenwriter Jason Hall, Eastwood and Kyle’s autobiography are all worthy candidates of blame for a scripts that sole purpose is to show Kyle’s greatness. The film romanticizes him and believes creating a great character involves only showing the great sides of him, which biographies like “Wolf of Wall Street” and “Selma” disprove.

The movie makes a rookie biography mistake and only focuses on Kyle. This causes a lot of main characters to become static and makes the film weaker. Miller plays Kyle’s wife, who ends up being forced into the nagging wife role. Her character had the potential to add to not only Kyle’s character, but also the main storyline of the film. She could have added different angles to a single-minded picture.

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No clear direction is present throughout “American Sniper.” Eastwood does not vary his shots or bring different perspectives. The film plays as his platform to spread out his political views. Anyone who mentions the Iraq War as anything but positive is quickly shut down. It is propaganda, reaching levels of a commercial for military recruitment.

It is disappointing that this film became a recent Oscar nomination for Best Picture. It nowhere deserved to be nominated and took a spot from “Gone Girl.”  Average is the best way to describe it. If you are looking for a better recent war film, look up 2014’s “Fury.”

Stars: 3 out of 5.