Review: Shooter

An ex-elite sniper living in the mountains is convinced to climb back behind the rifle, so to speak, and “consult” with government officials regarding a possible threat on the President’s life. From there, he’s framed, goes on the run à la Rambo/First Blood and all the while, tries to track down and kill those who placed this all upon him. The chase is on and we’re in the front seat, folks!

Everything in this film was predictable, the plot twists were a little too basic and the characters were all one-dimensional. That said…I liked it!! It felt like I watching an old 80’s action flick, but with today’s standards of stunts and entertainment. We’ve seen this movie before but the real anchor in this film was Marky Mark. This guy’s watchable. He’s the handsome, serious, rugged, mysterious type that most people like to watch and it’s working for him. For some reason, Wahlberg makes this movie “cool”.

Wahlberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, an ex-sniper for the core who is being framed for the attempt on the President’s life. This is certainly a step back from his DEPARTED character of Dignam, but he was good in this flick, nonetheless. I’m sure he had a lot of fun preparing for the part…probably trained with real snipers and all. I just wasn’t completely convinced that this guy was one of the best shooters in the world. His little speech about wind velocities, the rotational spin of the earth and all this other crap was interesting, but it kinda felt like he was reading off a cue card. I didn’t buy it. From an action character perspective though, he was good: ruthless one second and a witty one-liner the next.

The rest of the characters were pretty lame. Danny Glover was good, but I don’t recall him ever having a lisp unless it was part of the character and if it was…it annoyed me to no end! I think I prefer it when he plays a good guy. Michael Peña was likeable as a field agent , but his character seemed like an afterthought and to be honest as a side-kick…he was kinda dull. Finally, Kate Mara was cute, but her character was written all wrong and the fact that she never even meets Wahlberg’s character before and then does whatever he wants, it was just a little unbelievable and unlikely.

Antoine Fuqua is a good director. I’ve seen most of his other flicks and this guy is destined for bigger things! SHOOTER was good, but I think he did the best he could with the kind of weak script that it was. Action-wise…BOOM! He can make it happen. The tension within all of the action sequences was great; not too over the top and almost believable.

In the end, this is a good popcorn movie and the ultimate no-brainer. It has a “meh” storyline with good action, but most importantly, it has Marky Mark…”C’mon, feel it, feel it!” I’m sorry, I just had to quote that.

— by Tim
Goernert