Shooter (2007)

Overall Rating From 1 to 100: 73

Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Mark Wahlberg / Danny Glover / Kate Mara
124 min. Action / Thriller
MPAA: R (for strong graphic violence and some language)

Review by Jason Pyles / April 2, 2007

Times of war are reflected throughout a culture — especially in its films.

Most of the 1940s was booming for Hollywood, partly because of government perks for its “patriotic support” of World War II propaganda pictures. “Casablanca” (1943) comes to mind.

The Vietnam era produced scathingly critical films in the late ‘70s, like “The Deer Hunter” (1978), “Coming Home” (1978) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979). This kind of anti-war filmmaking is still prevalent today.

“Shooter” is decent action flick — quite entertaining, in fact — but it has an unmistakable agenda: the U.S. government is evil. In principle, there’s nothing wrong with expressing such sentiments; that’s the beauty of freedom. But I tend to resent manipulation, particularly blatant manipulation that borders on obnoxiousness. (And no, I don’t doubt that our government has done reprehensible things. And no, that likely fact is not OK with me.) Indeed, there are many inconvenient truths.

Bob Lee Swagger is a patriotic and dutiful man. And he knows a lot about guns. He served as a long-distance sniper (really long distances) for the U.S. military in Ethiopia. We learn from this opening sequence why Swagger has a mistrust of the government and a distaste for helicopters.

Three years later, the retired gunnery sergeant is commissioned by some U.S. government, Secret-Service types to help prevent the assassination of the president of the United States.

The president has three, upcoming, public speeches where a sniper is planning to shoot him from a mile away. Swagger is asked to scout the three locations and tell the government goons how he would execute such a fantastic shot. (The science of such things is discussed in some detail and is quite fascinating.)

It’s no secret, as usual — thanks to the trailers — that Swagger is set up to have the president’s assassination pinned on him. Nor is it a secret that this is a “revenge, getting even, take-justice-into-your-own-hands” kind of movie.

The greatest strength of “Shooter” comes from the realistic way that Swagger has to deal with a potentially fatal wound. Though he is a superman when he’s holding a gun, there’s a lot of time given to the frailty of Swagger’s mortality. This is a mark of excellence that most action films never even attempt to target.

Danny Glover, Ned “squeal-for-me” Beatty and Kate Mara (“We Are Marshall”) add flare to the cast. And Wahlberg is great at playing this tough, smart, quiet, Bruce Willis type of character.

Overall, I recommend “Shooter.” It has that delicious revenge quality that makes you feel a little animalistic, as when you watch “Dirty Harry” (1971) or “Death Wish” (1974). At the same time, “Shooter” also makes you feel like you should go hide from our government in a hole.

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don’t watch (1-29)

Copyright 2007.
JP0063 : 452