AMERICAN SNIPER trailer weighs war-time decisions with Bradley Cooper

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Clint Eastwood-directed American Sniper gets first trailer

The first trailer for the Clint Eastwood-directed, Bradley Cooper-starring Navy SEAL movie American Sniper is simple yet suspenseful. Intermingling a brief moment of conflict with snippets of Cooper’s at-home life does a good job of establishing a tone, and the movie looks like an intriguing return to the battlefield as well as action for a director who’s been playing it quiet for a while. Based on a true story, the film focuses on the most lethal sniper in U.S. history.

Watch the first trailer for American Sniper after the jump.

The trailer is a nice change of pace from those that have been laying out the entire plot, and if the tone here translates well into a feature-length film we may be in for a real winner. Again, Clint Eastwood has been turning in personal-yet-quickly-forgotten projects for the past eight years, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this one turned a few heads especially given Eastwood picked it up after Steven Spielberg left the project.

The plot synopsis for American Sniper gives us a little of that story missing from the trailer:

From director Clint Eastwood comes “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.  But there was much more to him than his skill as a sharpshooter.  U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission: to protect his brothers-in-arms.  His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and, as stories of his courageous exploits spread, he earns the nickname “Legend.”  However, his reputation is also growing behind enemy lines, putting a price on his head and making him a prime target of insurgents.  He is also facing a different kind of battle on the home front: striving to be a good husband and father from halfway around the world.  Despite the danger, as well as the toll on his family at home, Chris serves through four harrowing tours of duty in Iraq, personifying the SEAL creed to “leave no man behind.”  But upon returning to his wife, Taya Renae Kyle (Sienna Miller), and kids, Chris finds that it is the war he can’t leave behind.

American Sniper star Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Luke Grimes, Kier O’Donnell, and Sam Jaeger. The movie is scheduled to open in limited theatrical release starting December 25, 2014.