Disarming Entertainment

Rating: 4/10 (28 June 2014)

Shooter comes over as a slick, exciting action movie, Mark Wahlberg gives a strong if largely emotionless performance and Danny Glover is suitably menacing, with Elias Coteas playing his trademark man-on-the-edge-of-sanity. Ned Beatty is deliciously evil as the morally bankrupt man in high place and Michael Pena steals numerous scenes as the unassuming but determined FBI agent. The female roles are, as with so many action films, cardboard cut-outs. The problems start when you break the film down and realise that the message is that shooting people solves the problem, which is, of course, a contemptible message to be peddling. It's too late to rescue America's soul, but the rest of us are hopefully not beyond saving - however movies like this do not help.