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Review #433 of 365
Movie Review of Shooter (2007) [R] 124 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.75
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 24 March 2007
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day)
Screenplay by: Jonathan Lemkin (Red Planet) based on the novel, Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) • Michael Peña (Babel) • Danny Glover (Dreamgirls) • Kate Mara (We Are Marshall) • Elias Koteas (Zodiac) • Rhona Mitra (The Number 23) • Jonathan Walker (Land of the Dead) • Justin Louis ("Durham County") • Tate Donovan (Good Night, and Good Luck) • Rade Serbedzija (Go West) • Alan C. Peterson (Obituary) • Ned Beatty (Sweet Land)
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Absent from the film theme menu for a while has been a good cat and mouse political thriller. Despite the lack of nicety to the title, Shooter, directed by Training Day's Antoine Fuqua from Jonathan Lemikin's screenplay and based on Stephen Hunter's novel Point of Impact--which I humbly submit would have been a fine title for the film as well—the film starring the freshly Academy Award®-nominated Mark Wahlberg stands out this spring as one of the most satisfying when it comes to plot, acting, and message. This is a bold film where Hollywood takes the gloves off for a full-scale assault on the current political landscape of the USA. A fictional, covert operation within the Ethiopian border, a nation "we're not supposed to be in", serves as the catalyst for Bob Lee (Mark Wahlberg) Swagger's sudden slide from enthusiastic super marksmen for the US military into solitary mountain man where he holes up in a cabin, grows his own food, and keeps a mammoth dog as his only companion. The trigger for the events was the death of his spotter—the soldier who teams with the shooter to give important distance, wind, and proximity information which allows then for the shooter to complete shots of great distances that otherwise wouldn't be possible for a human being to execute.
Donnie Wahlberg is Bobby Lee Swagger(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
Aspects of the operation, however, go wrong, intelligence fails to deliver accurate reports, and a helicopter assault leaves Swagger's spotter's fiancée empty handed at the alter. Some thirty-six months later, enter Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) and his smarmy henchmen to track down Swagger and enlist him in a special operation. Intelligence has come up with a credible threat against the president's life within the next couple of weeks by a long-range assault rifle, and Colonel Johnson needs one of the world's best marksmen to help him ascertain how and where this shot could be taken given the president's itinerary of limited public appearances in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Initially, of course, Swagger refuses to become involved, however, as he explains later, they push all the right buttons about serving his country, and he caves to their whims. Someone, brilliant in the marketing department of this film, decided it would be a good idea to give away the most compelling of the twists in the film in the trailer. It seems such a shame now because there was no reason to do so, and without this twist the film is borderline predictable. Skip ahead now to the next paragraph to miss the twist if you haven't seen the preview. So, as Swagger sets out to ascertain the particulars of the shot, he narrows it to Philadelphia during an honoring ceremony for an Ethiopian Bishop traveling to the USA to gain support for his causes. On the day of the talk, Colonel Johnson convinces Swagger to stay around and help his team find the would-be assassin. Swagger should have seen this coming. He's worked for men like this his entire career. But, he trusts the system, and he pays for it moments later when the assassination attempt is made and he is set up as the fall guy. There's only one problem with their plan, they fail to kill him too, and in that failure, they unleash a tiger hell bent on two things: his own survival and revenge.
"…the right elements of subterfuge, tension, and intrigue creating a worthy action thriller."
The rest of the film then focuses on Swagger's attempts to bring justice and restore the honor of his buddy's death and the military set up to fight for freedom and protect the nation. As mentioned, the film's script is brazen in its attacks of the current government and the subsequent lack of faith that has boiled up in response to disillusionment brought on by government scandals that rock the core of the nation's beliefs. On these levels the film glosses over fact and fiction boundaries taking lines for granted and assuming a receptive audience. Many people are not going to like the fact that a sitting US Senator from Montana, the 'honorable' Charles F. Meachum (Ned Beatty) and a rogue, untouchable Colonel are behind all the shenanigans. The values and ideals of the Senator will disgust most viewers. The degree to which they believe that even one member of our actual Congress might share his beliefs in real life, however, should serve as ample fodder for many discussions. The simple fact of the matter is that the republic, founded on representative leadership, has, due to the size and population of the nation, veered far, far off course permitting the voices of big business and industry to supercede that of the constituents. While the film makes no great attempts to point out the logical needs in just such a predicament, short of Swagger's unrealistic, illegal, and dangerous tactics, it certainly does make thinking about the role of becoming more informed citizens more important.
Michael Peña is Nick Memphis, Swagger's co-opted partner.(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
Swagger is a great, new, on-screen character. Part vigilante, part MacGyver, part ethics professor, he could logically succeed in a couple of sequels. Mr. Wahlberg credibly portrays the character blending his physical strengths with his honest and reliable face. Without a perfect Boston accent, he comes across as an everyman who knows the value of a human life. Kate Mara and Michael Peña have fun roles as well, playing his co-opted partners in 'crime' as he must get to the bottom of the conspiracy into which he was forcibly drawn. In the end, the film lacks the psychological brilliance of Fuqua's Training Day, and the depth of characters in the performances. Nonetheless, Shooter offers up the right elements of subterfuge, tension, and intrigue creating a worthy action thriller.
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Cast Members
Mark Wahlberg • Michael Peña • Danny Glover
Kate Mara • Elias Koteas • Rhona Mitra
Jonathan Walker • Justin Louis • Tate Donovan
Rade C. Serbedzija • Alan Peterson • Ned Beatty
Director
Antoine Fuqua
Screenwriter
Jonathan LemkinDownload these films now…
Shooter (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Despite nicety to the title, Shooter, directed by Antoine Fuqua from Jonathan Lemikin's screenplay, stars the freshly Academy Award®-nominated Mark Wahlberg and stands out this spring when it comes to plot, acting, and message. After losing his spotter, one of the world's best military marksmen Bobby Lee(Mark Wahlberg) Swagger retires electing solitary mountain life for his next phase. A duty call from Colonel Johnson (Danny Glover) brings him from retirement to help foil a plot to assassinate the president. Swagger is a great, new, on-screen character. Part vigilante, part MacGyver, part ethics professor, Wahlberg credibly portrays the character blending his physical strengths with his honest and reliable face. In the end, the film lacks the psychological brilliance of Fuqua's Training Day, and the depth of characters in the performances. Nonetheless, Shooter offers up the right elements of subterfuge, tension, and intrigue creating a worthy action thriller.
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