The story goes something like this. A Marine Scout Sniper’s mission goes bad, he is abandoned by his commanders and his buddy is killed. Fast forward three years later, our main character (Bob Lee Swagger) is “retired”, living the life of a mountain hermit with his dog. Some “bad guy” government types show up at his cabin and convince him to accept one last mission. This mission involves helping “them” (we are never entitled to know just exactly who “them” really work for) spoil a plot to kill the president. Now this mission also goes bad by design, orchestrated by “them”. Swagger goes on the lamb (wrongly accused of attempting to assassinate the president), finds his dead buddy’s wife and convinces her to help him unravel the mystery and get “them”.
“Them” are vaguely alluded to as being another super-secret, autonomous government agency that carries out nefarious, though patriotic, missions and agendas around the world. Danny Glover is the head antagonist in this flick and is addressed as “colonel”. We find out later that this colonel and his little band of government ner-do-wells were involved in Swagger’s mission at the beginning of the movie, a covert operation in Ethiopia involving an oil pipeline. There will be no huge spoilers in this blog as some of plot twists are what hold this piece together. Oh...and a helluva lot of explosions, large caliber machine gun squibs, about 23 sniper “head shots”, one propane tank explosion that downs a helicopter, a smidgeon of women in their underwear, a kick-ass car chase, a corrupt senator, and a gratuitous vengeful ending.
Despite his critics, Wahlberg is perfect for this role. To use a quote from the movie Swingers, “He’s money!” What he isn’t is a Lawrence Olivier. So what I say? What’s your point I say? Shooter is not a dramatic art piece. It really can be likened to a Rambo for the new millennium, with a lot of The Bourne Supremacy thrown in for the mystery effect.
Kate Mara as his buddy's widow does not have much range as an actress in this. But again...so what? She is a total babe, especially in director Antoine Fuqua’s extreme close-ups on her squeaky clean, freckled face and big brown eyes!
Danny Glover always seems a bit out of place as a bad guy after seeing him in four Lethal Weapon movies as the harried partner to Mel Gibson. And in this movie, he is wearing some sort of mouth gear or braces on his bottom teeth causing him to speak with a weird lisp, ie, just on the verge of slobbering with every sentence. I couldn’t decide whether or not it was part of the character or just a coincidence that he was under the care of an orthodontist during the filming. Strange. Ned Beatty plays the corrupt senator. I kept expecting him to squeal like a pig at some point. Michael Pena is good as the rookie FBI agent who is reluctantly recruited as Swagger’s new partner. And Michael Sandor does an adequate job as an older Russian sniper agent who may or may not have been on the grassy knoll in Dallas.
Although it is very unlikely that Shooter will be nominated for any Oscars for acting, I would think it stands a good chance of getting some sort of recognition in the Special Effects area. Expect lots of napalm fireballs and tightly-edited action scenes.
Shooter was a fun movie to watch. The two hours went by fast. As a movie-goer, I was anxious to see what came next. It moved along very quickly...good pacing. It will be a great movie to get on DVD and see what extras and features come with it.
You won’t get lost in the plot or fall asleep during this flick. Don’t expect to go away from Shooter in deep thought about what it all meant. Eat some popcorn, maybe a Jolly Rancher or two, and cheer for the good guy and say, “All right!” when the bad guys get what’s coming to them. Watch for a small part by ex-The Band member turned actor Levon Helm as a mysterious old gun maker Wahlberg’s character looks to for wisdom, guidance, and information about super-secret government bad guys. He’s kind of like the Dali Lama to sniper types.
Have fun!
