Good Popcorn Action Movie

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2012)

SHOOTER gets off to a great start . A black ops team is sent in to Ethiopia and force recon sniper Bob Lee Swagger finds himself surrounded as things go fubar . Being a black ops mission the US government decide to cancel the mission making Swagger a bitter man especially since his comrade is killed by the bad guys
Looking at the above inciting incident you start thinking that maybe this might have worked as the entire premise for a film , one of an elite American sniper finding himself trapped behind enemy lines having to make it to a friendly border with the bad guys in very hot pursuit , a sort of American WILD GEESE but director Antoine Fuqua made a similar film previously called TEARS OF THE SUN and this film is based on a novel and you don't want to change a novel's story too much
As it stands SHOOTER is something of a revenge thriller and thought perhaps it might involve Swagger becoming a bitter man , so much so that when Danny Glover's former army officer appears saying someone wants to assassinate the President of the United States Swagger might want to volunteer for the gig but he's wanted to protect the President
Of course if he gives his expert advice covering all angles of how the President can be safe from sniper fire there wouldn't be a movie and soon finds himself framed by the bad guys as the man who wants to kill the President . Everyone gets double crossed and it's up to Swagger to save the day by wreaking violence upon the bad guys as both the baddies and the law abiding American patriots try and eliminate Swagger
SHOOTER isn't a great film produced to dominate the Oscars but it is a rather involving action adventure movie . It makes a change seeing someone like Mark Wahlberg playing an action hero and he's better here than some of the films he's starred in like THE HAPPENING