In little league baseball, players learning the sport are taught two basic principles about hitting. First, keep your eye on the ball. Second, hit the ball with the “sweet spot” of the bat.
The first principle is rudimentary, the best way to make contact with a moving object is to keep focused on it throughout the process.
The second is a bit more involved. The “sweet spot” on a baseball bat is the area in which the vibrations from the butt end of the bat meet the vibrations from the tip of the bat and cancel each other out.
The result is small area on the barrel in which vibrations are minimized and maximum energy is able to be transferred to the ball. While bat-ball contact made outside of this ideal area can still sometimes generate a hit, the most coveted result – a homerun – is almost always due to the sweet spot.
In January of 2015, Warner Brothers Released American Sniper, the biopic of Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American history; it hit the country’s cinematic sweet spot and soared to a level of success that is unmatched in recent history.
(For the purpose of this article Oscar nominations and wins will serve as the primary indicator of critical success. Although the Academy Awards do not directly reflect the view of all critics everywhere, its results rarely deviate far from the general critical consensus. Also, because of the the Oscars January/February timetable, it is able to encompass all films made in the previous calendar year and therefore tends to be the most inclusive.)
Typically, a “successful” film will excel in either one or the other; big-time box office success and Oscar nominations tend to be mutually exclusive.
Why? This trend is indicative of the disparity between the cinematic taste of the general movie-going public and that of the critics. Typically, the public favors excitement – action, violence, sex and intriguing (but not overly complicated) plot lines. Critics on the other hand, lean towards more the subtle, artistic nuances of film – character development, cinematography and writing.
While this premise does rely on upon a degree of generalization, the notion is astute. History has shown it’s very difficult to achieve cinematic excellence in the eyes of critics while simultaneously pleasing the masses, which is why American Sniper’s accomplishment is so impressive: The film finished number one in box office revenue and its tally of six academy award nominations tied with critically beloved “Boyhood” for fourth most in 2015. It is safe to say, American Sniper hit the elusive cinematic sweet spot: In the last three years, American Sniper is the only film to finish in the top five in both Academy Award nominations and box office revenue.
Sniper marks the first time since 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan” that a realistic, R-rated drama has been the top domestic release. In the last 6 years, only Avatar and American Sniper have finished in the top five in both number of Oscar nods and domestic box office revenue. Gladiator, Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring & Return of King), The Dark Knight, in addition to Avatar and American Sniper, are the only films since 2000 to accomplish the feat.
Was American Sniper really that great? Frankly, no. Sniper is not the same caliber (sorry, I had to) of film as Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan or The Dark Knight. It just isn’t. Although Academy Award wins aren’t the be-all and end-all, Sniper only finished with one Oscar win (Best Sound Mixing) while Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan both won five, and The Dark Knight captured two (one of which was Best Supporting Actor thanks to an all-time great performance by Heath Ledger.)