Surprisingly solid action movie

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2007)

Swagger is a top of the line Marine Corps Sniper who has recently retired after losing a close friend in an "unofficial" operation. The government calls him back to work when word of an imminent presidential assassination gets out. A shady Col. Johnson wants Swagger to stage how he'd kill the president so they can catch the potential assassin out on the loose. Then Swagger is betrayed at the worst possible moment.
That relatively simple action-movie setup builds to one of the better action movies to recently roll out of Hollywood. The movie sort of recalls the abysmally bad "Most Wanted" from roughly a decade ago, but don't let that put you off. The plot isn't too heavy or unnecessarily convoluted, but remains an intriguing conspiracy thriller. The action isn't overblown or improbably insane. Unlike many recent and overly edited action films "Shooter" doesn't always have cuts every half second during the action sequences so you can actually see and thoroughly enjoy the action. Then, possibly best off all, the film doesn't compromise with violence in order to get the precious PG-13 rating. Then again, Antoine Fuqua isn't a director to fall into that trap having previously delivered a series of good movies (Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, Training Day) with the possible exception of "Bait."
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and solid action film. --- 8/10
Rated R for violence