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Amazon.co.uk Review
A movie that would not have been out of place in the run of paranoid-political thrillers of the 1970s, Shooter works an entertaining variation on the assassination picture. Mark Wahlberg, carrying over good mojo from The Departed, slides neatly into the character of Bob Lee Swagger, master marksman. Swagger has retreated from his duty as an off-the-books hired gun for the military, having become disillusioned with his government (switching on his TV at his remote mountain cabin, he mutters, "Let's see what kind of lies they're trying to sell us today."). Ah, but the government needs Swagger to scope out the location of a rumored attempt on the life of the president, so a shadowy government operative (Danny Glover) begs Swagger to use his sniper's skills to out-fox the assassin. From there--well, spoilers are not fair, since the movie has a few legitimate shocks and a very nice wrong-man scenario about to unfold.
A novel by the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Stephen Hunter gives the movie a logical spine, even if the premise itself is the stuff of conspiracy theorists. Wahlberg gets support from Michael Pena, as a skeptical FBI agent; Kate Mara, as a trustworthy widow; and Ned Beatty, trailing along memories of Network, as a supremely cynical Senator. Along with the well-executed action sequences (the previously unreliable director Antoine Fuqua gets it in gear here), the movie includes a few potshots at the Bush administration. No, that doesn't put Shooter at the level of The Parallax View or All the President's Men, but it provides some tang along with the flying bullets. --Robert Horton
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Entertainment. 2 hours of action with cheese,
By Mr P (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shooter [DVD] (DVD)
I watched this film last night. To be honest I was expecting something pretty bad...something along the lines of The Marine (a mind numbingly stupid movie by the way). But having read some of the reviews here I was ready to give it a go - and I'm glad I did.
This film is not brilliant. It has flaws, the usual flaws that you get in many action movies - one dimensional characters that don't make a heck of a lot of sense, some plot holes that could be easily filled in. However these flaws are not so jarring - the main characters are okay and well acted and the plot holes can as I said be filled in rationally with some thought. Having said that the storyline is fun. It is full of cliches but what modern action movie is cliché free? And it does put in some twists so the story is not entirely obvious. The action is well orchestrated and not simply blowing things up (unlike The Marine). There are elements of The Bourne Identity in fight scenes, and the sniping angle is done nicely (with heads exploding quite satisfyingly). You will have to suspend belief in a couple of the sniper shots (e.g. headshots from 200 yds out whilst standing in a small floating boat - with a .22!). Additionally some of the secondary characters and their lines are amusing, I doubt this was intentional but sometimes cheese is good. When one lady picked up the phone and did a hair flick before answering I nearly choked on my cider. No over the top idiot romance, or at least kept to a minimum, which is refreshing. This film entertained me for its full 2 hours. I enjoyed it and would watch it again if a friend had rented it.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Yeah I know, but .....,
By Mr. David C. Halliday "Boo62" (Ilkeston Derbyshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Shooter [DVD] (DVD)
It's tat, yeah I know, but it's good tat. You know what I mean. One of those films that critics hate and that anybody with half a braincell snorts at and yet... It's just watchable! I know it's not the Bourne knockoff the producers were hoping for but someone here has done their research and so Wahlbergs humourless 'Rambo lite' ex. army patriot rings true and his meticulous way of behaving rings true. There's not much new here and there are no terriffic peformances but it's still fun and a fascinating watch.
I enjoyed this and shouldn't that be the defining emotion for a film? true it isn't Tarkovsky or Truffaut but sometimes you just want to kick back and say "bugger it, blow some stuff up & show me some flag waving nutter doing his stuff". Yup that just about say's it all for this as Wahlberg's man on a mission squaddie takes on the assassinating SOB's who try to frame him for a murder. The effects are good and Wahlberg is believable, lot's of explosions and close shaves mean this does exactly what it says on the tin. If you cannot live without long exposition & mind bending symbolism then this isn't for you, but if you just want to switch off and enjoy the ride then welcome on board... Picture is good and sound spot on. Extras? ZZZZzzzzzz. never mind, just put the film on again & pass me another beer will you?
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An A1 action flick,
By
This review is from: Shooter [DVD] (DVD)
`Shooter' stars Mark Wahlberg as former military sniper, Bob Lee Swagger who has retreated to a cabin in Montana to try to forget his time in the Marines. Unexpectedly a group of government agents led by Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) come visit Swagger and tell him that there is a sniper out there ready to kill the president and the Colonel wants to recruit Bob to give some professional advice of how it can be done by thinking as a sniper. Swagger agrees and soon finds himself pulled back into his old life of high powered, long range rifles. But things go awray and Swagger finds himself the most wanted man in the nation in a matter of minutes.
If you were to take the best parts of Tom Clancy's Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger & Sum of All Fears and mixed in the best parts of the only good Rambo film you would end up with something akin to Shooter. It twists and turns with an elaborate conspiracy that is very convincing and it puts you into the shoes of a sniper and gives an impressive overview of the mindset that it takes to be as accurate as someone of the character of Swagger. Shooter is definitely one of the best action flicks I've seen in quite a while.
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