One of my favorite books and the movie did it justice

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2007)

I loved "Point of Impact" by Stephen Hunter. It's one of the few books that I've read multiple times (along with books by Vince Flynn and Tom Clancy). I love a good conspiracy, and even better is a hero who does the right thing without getting hung up on what is politically correct. Usually, movies from books get it wrong. I gad a hard time getting behind the Bourne Identity even though people were raving about it. That was a head scratcher for me. But I saw it a second time and I warmed up to it. The book is still loads better.
I thought "Shooter" (Point of Impact) got it right, and this is from someone who's read the book 4 times. In fact, the movie is actually better in some ways than the book. And dare I say it, this movie is better than either of the Bourne movies which I have come to like very much. Maybe I have a different perspective since I'm familiar with all the books these respective movies were written from? Maybe knowing the books as well as I do clues me in a bit more? I think the key to "Shooter", now that I've seen the movie twice, is that you've GOT to pay attention to every scene. From the opening scene of the burning village you need to pay attention. I think the majority of reviewers missed some subtle things. The problem with a story like this is that if the conspiracy is too blatant, the hero is blamed for being a bonehead and not 'getting' the obvious, but if the hints are too subtle, the story is blamed for being preposterous because it's easy to miss important dialog. It's a balancing act that I think Antoine Fuqua, Mark Wahlburg and the writer (forgot his name, sorry) pulled off very well **if you pay attention**.
This is just one more opinion, and we all know what opinion are like right? If someone is reading this who has not seen the movie, please don't go in expecting Rambo or Commando. Listen/watch each scene carefully and you'll see that the conspiracy is brilliant. Johnson (Glover's character) and company, make certain someone takes the blame quickly so that law enforcement will stop looking for the real culprits. It happens all the time, which is why we see innocent people sent to jail. There was a 60 Minutes show about just this topic.
I'm not kidding when I gave this movie a '10' out of '10'.