Good action flick with misplaced morality perhaps

Rating: 7/10 (25 August 2011)

Not being the biggest action fan, but being a big fan of Mark Wahlberg at the moment having just seen The Fighter, and also being quite intrigued by sniper films, I decided to give Shooter a look. I got pretty much what i expected going in - and that was one of a couple of faults I found with this film.
I just felt, while there was the odd little twist here or there, overall the whole story felt by the book. Maybe not so much predictable, just unimaginative and nothing making you say "wow, didn't see that coming." At times it even felt a bit like a video game with all the casual shooting and killing of apparently more than expendable soldiers.
Which brings me to my next problem. Who was really the villain in this movie? Wahlberg's character killed one hell of a lot of people in this film. Usually writers find a way for the hero to continue to evade capture and achieve their mission, eg. finding the real killer, without having to do serious harm to anyone. This film however seems to throw that rule out the window very quickly, and while that does make for better entertainment, is it really right that at the end he is let go scot free, simply because there wasn't proof he killed the archbishop? I'm not too sure how I feel about that one. I'm fine with villains getting away with things, I just don't like villains being portrayed as heroes or vice versa.
But squabbles aside this is a pretty darn entertaining movie. Wahlberg is fantastic as Bob Lee Swagger. So much so that I couldn't help wishing he'd been considered for the upcoming Jack Reacher film One Shot (also based around a sniper funny enough), in which Tom Cruise has recently been cast in the lead role. Which led me to wonder whether a franchise could be made out of the Lee Swagger role. While I think it would certainly be possible, there is perhaps just one too many similar franchises in circulation at the moment, ie. Bond, Bourne and hopefully Reacher soon. But nonetheless hats off to Shooter for being an above averagely entertaining entry into the increasingly blasé action genre. 7/10