Watchable action thriller.

Rating: 5/10 (23 May 2010)

Shooter starts as ex-counter intelligence sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is contacted by Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) for an extra special patriotic assignment, US intelligence have gotten wind of a plan to assassinate the President by a sniper & Johnson wants to use Swagger's skills & expertise to locate the sniping point & stop the assassination. Swagger reluctantly agrees but is double crossed as the Presidential assassination was bluff to cover their real target the Archbishop of Ethiopia & Swagger is framed for the murder, barely escaping the scene with his life Swagger is hunted by the police, the FBI & those responsible for the assassination & has nowhere to go or turn to. Swagger must uncover the truth & put away the bad guy's before they get to him...
Directed by Antoine Fuqua this fairy routine action thriller isn't too bad but isn't anything to write home about either, clocking at over two hours with a fairly exposition heavy plot that is surprisingly light on action Shooter is merely adequate at best. The plot is stand action thriller stuff, some one man army ex-military with a troubled past is forced out of retirement for one reason or another & basically takes on the bad guy's all by himself & predictably wins. Based on the novel by the Pulitizer Prize winning Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter this is a surprisingly slow moving action thriller that never really gets going, sure there is the odd fight & the initial action surrounding the assassination of the Archbishop & Swagger's escape is cool but the rest of it is quite low-key with only a couple of explosions & a few shoot-outs to show for it's two hour duration. The plot really isn't that clever or as cerebral as it thinks it is, we have had corrupt Senator's, evil US military Colonel's for hire & endless streams of bad guy's willing to line-up & get shot before many, many times & Shooter adds little to the mix. There are also problems with the plot, it's hard to believe that Swagger would fall for such a ridiculous plan & why does Swagger just take Johnson's word for it? Why not at least check him out or even ask what agency he works for? Considering he is the most wanted man in America with his face plastered all over the media Swagger manages to move around surprisingly freely, are we expected to believe that a gun used in an assassination isn't checked by the FBI at any point to make sure it even fires? The idea that the FBI wouldn't check maiden names for people connected with Swagger is hard to believe & quite why Swagger is let free at the end to kill the bad guy's is a mystery, didn't he still break lots of laws? At two hours long it does get a bit tedious & the lack of outright action becomes a problem, while not the worst action thriller out there Shooter felt like a direct to video mid budget flick. The character's are weak, no-one is given much screen time apart from Swagger & he's the most cold & emotionless person in the thing.
Most of the action revolves around long distance sniping & that gives the action scenes a detached feel as Swagger is rarely on screen with his nemesis, there are a few fights & a few stabbings but there's not much action going on. A house explodes & a few pipe bombs go off as well as a minor car chase but it's surprisingly small scale & forgettable. The look & style of Shooter is quite nice with a steady camera & none of that machine-gun editing that is so irritating in modern action films.
With a supposed budget of about $61,000,000 this is well made I suppose, filmed mainly in Canada. Keanu Reeves was the original choice to play the lead but Walhberg got the part & he is alright if a little one dimensional. Singer Eminem was offered a part as a villain but turned it down while Danny Glover has an annoying whispering type lisp for some reason.
Shooter is a standard action thriller that doesn't have much action & doesn't work as a serious thriller because of all the implausibilities, a very cold & humourless film that I thought was watchable enough but nothing special & I doubt I would ever want to see it again.