Shooter is a poor man's Bourne Identity. There is no other way to say it. At times, Shooter can be very entertaining. Too often though, the film is brought down by cliched scene after cliched scene. Movies with preposterous plots can often be fun to watch, and indeed the Bourne movies are good examples of this. The plot, however, must be infused with solid storytelling and some kind of character arc if the movie is to stand a chance of being worthwhile. Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, King Arthur) is so intent on making its action sequences work (and they do work more often than not) that he forgets what is the main purpose of any film: to tell a story.
There isn't much of a story in Shooter that we haven't seen or watched a million times before, and Fuqua does nothing to make it different or unique. The difference, I guess, is that this time the hero, Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), is a sniper. Swagger, you see, is the best sniper in the world. He worked for the government in this role with his best buddy Donnie Fenn (Lane Garrison) as his spotter. When Fenn is killed during an "unofficial" mission, Swagger quits his job and goes into seclusion. Two years later, give or take, Col. Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) visits Swagger at his log cabin home in the mountains of Wyoming. You see, the president is going to be the target of an assassination attempt by a sniper at one of his speaking engagements some time in the next week. Only Swagger can stop it, because Swagger is the best sniper in the world, and he would know how to do assassinate the president, and where it would be done. If the plot sounds preposterously preposterous to begin with, you would be correct. Swagger, who is well trained in counter-intel but can't smell a set-up coming from a mile away (if there was a legitimate assassination threat to the president, would he be allowed to go to public speaking engagements? I think not), reluctantly agrees to help Johnson stop the would-be assassin. Of course, as everyone who has watched a preview knows, it is a set-up. Swagger is shot, almost killed, and framed to make it look as though he was the man who assassinated the archbishop. No that isn't a typo. The archbishop was in fact the one who was assassinated (for reasons I'm still not exactly clear of). It has something to do with mass graves in some African nation. But you see where this is going.
Shooter is cliche after cliche after cliche. Following the cliched set-up, there is the obligatory "evade the cops" sequence. Swagger retreats to the house of Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara), the widow of his best buddy, where, despite the fact that Swagger is all over the news depicted as the assassin, he convinces her within 90 seconds to let him in. Oh, I smell another cliche. Yep, it's the "pick up the phone and call 911 when the hero is busy, then change your mind and hang up" scene. Of course, there are a couple of Mark Wahlberg shirtless scenes. Fortunately, Fuqua wasn't tasteless enough to turn the Swagger-Mara relationship into a romantic one. Hooking up with your dead best friend's wife, now that just ain't right.
There are plenty of more cliches in this film, including the nosy young FBI agent Nick Memphis (Mark Wahlberg). He smells a cover-up, and does everything he can to find out the truth, regardless of what his superiors tell him. If you are picturing Jack Bauer right now...don't. Picture someone who is the opposite of Jack Bauer. Picture a complete wimp who doesn't look or act like he could hurt a high school sophomore. Now picture him as an FBI agent. Doesn't work, does it? Neither does much else in Shooter.
Shooter does get some things right. The action sequences are all entertaining to some degree, although there are cliches abound even there (slow motion walk away from a gian explosion, anyone?). Mark Wahlberg, to his credit, is very fun to watch in a role even as one-dimensional as this. Wahlberg, as he showed in the far superior film The Departed, is very good at playing a kick ass, take names, ask questions later kind of guy. He does it very well in this film, and most scenes that include Wahlberg and a gun work.
Danny Glover, on the other hand, is horrible to watch in this film. It's pretty clear he's not trying and he doesn't really give a damn. At times, his voice is so muffled it's very difficult to hear what he is saying. Glover was just here for the money, which I'm sure he must have figured out pretty quickly after reading the script. As good as he was in Dreamgirls, Glover is equally bad here.
There isn't much else to say about the other actors in Shooter. Watching Pena act is a horror film unto itself. I really don't understand why he was cast for his role. It just didn't work at all. Elias Koteas, one of the great "his face looks familiar but what's his name again?" guys of cinema, is solid as enforcer Jack Payne. Mara has a nothing role, so there is no real reason to comment on her acting. Ned Beatty does an excellent job of playing a corrupt senator from Montana.
Shooter is a film that at times can be quite entertaining. However, as a whole, Shooter simply misses the mark. I would feel bad about using a cliche to end my review, but in a film with character names like "Bob Lee Swagger," "Nick Memphis," and "Jack Payne," I feel I have the right to end my review however I would like.
There isn't much of a story in Shooter that we haven't seen or watched a million times before, and Fuqua does nothing to make it different or unique. The difference, I guess, is that this time the hero, Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), is a sniper. Swagger, you see, is the best sniper in the world. He worked for the government in this role with his best buddy Donnie Fenn (Lane Garrison) as his spotter. When Fenn is killed during an "unofficial" mission, Swagger quits his job and goes into seclusion. Two years later, give or take, Col. Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) visits Swagger at his log cabin home in the mountains of Wyoming. You see, the president is going to be the target of an assassination attempt by a sniper at one of his speaking engagements some time in the next week. Only Swagger can stop it, because Swagger is the best sniper in the world, and he would know how to do assassinate the president, and where it would be done. If the plot sounds preposterously preposterous to begin with, you would be correct. Swagger, who is well trained in counter-intel but can't smell a set-up coming from a mile away (if there was a legitimate assassination threat to the president, would he be allowed to go to public speaking engagements? I think not), reluctantly agrees to help Johnson stop the would-be assassin. Of course, as everyone who has watched a preview knows, it is a set-up. Swagger is shot, almost killed, and framed to make it look as though he was the man who assassinated the archbishop. No that isn't a typo. The archbishop was in fact the one who was assassinated (for reasons I'm still not exactly clear of). It has something to do with mass graves in some African nation. But you see where this is going.Shooter is cliche after cliche after cliche. Following the cliched set-up, there is the obligatory "evade the cops" sequence. Swagger retreats to the house of Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara), the widow of his best buddy, where, despite the fact that Swagger is all over the news depicted as the assassin, he convinces her within 90 seconds to let him in. Oh, I smell another cliche. Yep, it's the "pick up the phone and call 911 when the hero is busy, then change your mind and hang up" scene. Of course, there are a couple of Mark Wahlberg shirtless scenes. Fortunately, Fuqua wasn't tasteless enough to turn the Swagger-Mara relationship into a romantic one. Hooking up with your dead best friend's wife, now that just ain't right.
There are plenty of more cliches in this film, including the nosy young FBI agent Nick Memphis (Mark Wahlberg). He smells a cover-up, and does everything he can to find out the truth, regardless of what his superiors tell him. If you are picturing Jack Bauer right now...don't. Picture someone who is the opposite of Jack Bauer. Picture a complete wimp who doesn't look or act like he could hurt a high school sophomore. Now picture him as an FBI agent. Doesn't work, does it? Neither does much else in Shooter.
Shooter does get some things right. The action sequences are all entertaining to some degree, although there are cliches abound even there (slow motion walk away from a gian explosion, anyone?). Mark Wahlberg, to his credit, is very fun to watch in a role even as one-dimensional as this. Wahlberg, as he showed in the far superior film The Departed, is very good at playing a kick ass, take names, ask questions later kind of guy. He does it very well in this film, and most scenes that include Wahlberg and a gun work.
Danny Glover, on the other hand, is horrible to watch in this film. It's pretty clear he's not trying and he doesn't really give a damn. At times, his voice is so muffled it's very difficult to hear what he is saying. Glover was just here for the money, which I'm sure he must have figured out pretty quickly after reading the script. As good as he was in Dreamgirls, Glover is equally bad here.
There isn't much else to say about the other actors in Shooter. Watching Pena act is a horror film unto itself. I really don't understand why he was cast for his role. It just didn't work at all. Elias Koteas, one of the great "his face looks familiar but what's his name again?" guys of cinema, is solid as enforcer Jack Payne. Mara has a nothing role, so there is no real reason to comment on her acting. Ned Beatty does an excellent job of playing a corrupt senator from Montana.
Shooter is a film that at times can be quite entertaining. However, as a whole, Shooter simply misses the mark. I would feel bad about using a cliche to end my review, but in a film with character names like "Bob Lee Swagger," "Nick Memphis," and "Jack Payne," I feel I have the right to end my review however I would like.
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