Not particularly memorable

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2007)

Shooter is one of those films which is neither memorably brilliant nor memorably awful. It's stuck in kind of a movie no-man's land, reasonably entertaining but no better than just OK. It's worth seeing but you really won't be missing anything if you skip this one.
Anyhow, this is one of those "conspiracies gone wild" movies in which the whole world is out to get our hero. Mark Wahlberg plays the hero in question, former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger. Swagger is framed in an assassination attempt on the President and the chase is on. The FBI and those shadowy conspiracy guys hunt Swagger down while he attempts to prove his innocence without getting himself killed in the process. It's pretty much up to Wahlberg to carry the film and he does a fine job of it. Some of the material he has to work with is not particularly stellar as the movie does tend to drag at times but Wahlberg creates an engaging, easy to root for character. The supporting cast doesn't offer much in the way of support. Playing the requisite romantic interest Kate Mara's southern accent leaves something to be desired but she's otherwise fine. But her character isn't given much to do. Danny Glover really seems to be mailing in his performance as the lead bad guy. Perhaps a lesser known actor would have brought more energy to the role, Glover just seems to be there to collect a paycheck. The best performance in the supporting cast comes from Michael Peña as the one FBI agent who actually seems interested in finding the truth. Other than Wahlberg, Peña really has the only well-developed character in the movie and the actor does a good job of bringing the character to life and showing the way he evolves as the film moves along.
So, what we end up with is a movie with a familiar plot, only a couple of decently written characters and some troubling acting missteps. The thing does take its sweet time in moving along, fifteen to twenty minutes easily could have been cut here without being missed. And too often the plot comes to a screeching halt for extended action sequences. Yes, you know going in this is an action movie but really, how many people can get shot and how many things can get blown up before you really become numb to it all? But if you really do like seeing things get blown up you're in for a treat. Explosions galore in this movie. In the end, the movie is a reasonably enjoyable ride. You get the sense it could have been a little better but at least be grateful because it certainly could have been a lot worse.