Shooter (Film)

***Shooter*** is a 2007 action thriller film based on Stephen Hunter's 1993 novel *Point of Impact* and directed by Antoine Fuqua. *Shooter* stars Mark Wahlberg as Bob Lee Swagger, a self-exiled and retired Marine sniper with a reputation as one of the most dangerous men alive. He is brought to action by a plot to assassinate the President of the United States.

## Plot

During a reconnaissance mission in Ethiopia, U.S. Marines Bob Lee Swagger and Donnie Fenn observe farmers and goats from their post on a cliff. Donnie looks at a photo of his wife, Sarah, as Bob Lee continues to look into the distance. A storm brews on the horizon.

Friendly forces begin their pass through the valley below, an opposing vehicle heads their way. Donnie spots as Bob Lee routinely snipes the gunner and his driver. As their mission seemingly ends and they prepare to leave, a larger enemy convoy approaches their forces' rear and they stay to neutralize them. As they progress, the opposing forces begin firing artillery in their general direction. Donnie calls for backup, but the commander forces the operation to be shut down as they are in a country they are "not supposed to be in," leaving he and Bob Lee to fend for themselves.

An enemy attack chopper locates and closes in on them as they find that their communications have been killed. The chopper makes its first pass and misses them, allowing Bob Lee to take shots at it as Donnie covers his rear. On its return pass, the chopper's fire hits Donnie in the abdomen, killing him instantly. Bob Lee mourns his friend's death as the chopper leaves, believing them both to be dead. In an act of rage and revenge, Bob Lee shoots at the chopper and manages to take it down before it can reach him.

Three years later, Bob Lee calls for his dog, Sam, atop a remote mountain in Wyoming, on which he has isolated himself following his return to the country. They enter his cabin, and Sam fetches Bob Lee a beer from the fridge. He opens his beer and begins reading news on his laptop.

In Langley, a wheelchair-bound man, Michaylo Sczerbiak, enters an office and presents the three others present with a dossier regarding Bob Lee Swagger and, particularly, his final mission in which Donnie was killed. Colonel Isaac Johnson, Jack Payne, and Brent Dobbler note how his superiors left him, regarding him as expendable, but he managed to survive it despite this. "I guess Bob Lee didn't think he was expendable," says Johnson.

Minus Sczerbiak, they travel to Bob Lee's home, discussing his isolated lifestyle on the way. As they approach, Sam barks and alerts Bob Lee to their presence. He emerges and tells them to leave, but Johnson introduces himself and tells him that some business needs his attention. Bob Lee disagrees and tells them once more to leave, but Payne begins to call for Sam. He is told not to come closer, but Bob Lee's subtle threats against him cause him to reach for his gun, for which Johnson calls him to stop. Johnson tosses Bob Lee his own Congressional Medal of Honor as a token of goodwill, buying him a few minutes of conversation.

Inside the cabin, Johnson asks Bob Lee to plan an assassination on the President of the United States so they can prevent an impending attempt, the plan for which they intercepted from a coded internal transmission. He notes that the president's scheduled appearances within the time frame of the assassination take place in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and D.C., and that Secret Service would be ineffective in preventing it, as the shot would be taken from a mile, a distance exceeding what they can cover. Bob Lee says he doesn't particularly like the president, but Johnson plays to his ideas of freedom, and his oath to the flag. As he leaves the cabin at Bob Lee's urging, he says he doesn't want Bob Lee to see this tragedy happen and know he could have made the difference.

Johnson heads back to the vehicle, but Bob Lee comes out and asks to see the engine, seemingly impressed. He takes a photo of it, and Johnson hands him a number he can call to reach him before they leave. As they drive back, the two others talk about how Bob Lee took a photo of their plates, rather than the engine. Johnson is adamant that Bob Lee will come to them, saying, "He said yes, he just doesn't know it yet."

Bob Lee looks out across the valley with Sam. He retrieves a rifle from his shed and takes it to range. He focuses his sights on a can set one mile away, and prepares to attempt the shot. The rifle is fired, and his shot lands perfectly. Back at the cabin, he prepares his weapons for storage and tells a house sitter to feed Sam while he's away. On the plane to D.C., Bob Lee removes his hat and rubs his newly-trimmed head.

After arriving, Bob Lee spends a few minutes scouting the local area's surveillance and observing shooting positions before hailing a taxi and taking the train to Baltimore. He takes further observations, measuring distances, finding no feasible position. In Philadelphia, Bob Lee observes several positions, finding six in particular. He returns to D.C. and presents his findings to Johnson, stating Philadelphia to be the site of the attempt. He discusses several problems a potential shooter could have, including wind changes, stating that markers would be necessary to gauge speed. Bob Lee turns and sees Sczerbiak, and is asked by Johnson for a private moment. He asks Bob Lee to attend in person, as he is the only person who knows exactly what to look for. Bob Lee smiles and walks away in agreement.

The day of the president's Philadelphia event comes and Johnson brings Bob Lee to their post. FBI agents are posted around the city as eyes for suspicious activity. A local news outlet states that the Ethiopian Archbishop, who is also speaking at the event, is surrounded by controversy. His speech begins, and Bob Lee notices flags positioned tactically for a shot from the steeple of a nearby church. Johnson maintains that teams are in place to neutralize the threat. A local police officer, Stanley Timmons, is introduced to Bob Lee, who notices that Timmons' holster is not securing his gun. The mistake is corrected, and Timmons restates the honor of meeting Bob Lee before walking away.

The archbishop's address ends and he introduces the president, and Bob Lee continues his observations. Elsewhere, a rifle is remotely aimed toward the president. Bob Lee counts it down and tells the teams to take the shooter at that moment, but turns around and is shot in the abdomen by Timmons. In the same instance, the rifle is fired and the archbishop is killed. Timmons takes more shots at Bob Lee as he flees and jumps through a window, landing on an awning. Timmons lands another shot and collapses the awning, allowing Bob Lee to escape.

A nearby FBI agent is being fed the news of the shooting, though there is confusion. Back in the building, Payne chides Timmons for missing Bob Lee at such a close range. Johnson orders Timmons to find and kill him. Bob Lee limps away as Johnson's party sets up a false shooting scene with which to frame him. He comes toward the FBI agent, feigning worse injuries, then body slams him and steals his keys, and says, "I didn't shoot the president, Timmons was a setup." As Bob Lee drives away, Timmons comes to the agent's aid and requests backup. Bob Lee takes the car into a car wash and retrieves a first aid kit from the inside of the backseat, while Johnson and the others discuss the event. Bob Lee uses QuikClot on his wounds, one in the shoulder and one in the abdomen. Law enforcement begins closing in on his position as he exits the car wash. He finds himself in a high-speed chase, nearly-missing several pedestrians, but his vehicle is hit from the side by an oncoming truck. He is surrounded on one side by police, but begins backing the car away as he is targeted by assault teams. He launches the car into the river.

Later, FBI locates the car, with Bob Lee having escaped under a nearby pier. He emerges and begins limping toward a truck he finds in a nearby train yard, which he hot-wires and escapes in. The assaulted FBI Agent, Nick Memphis, watches news coverage of the chase from FBI headquarters. Memphis is shown on-screen and described as "disarmed" by Bob Lee, which gains him looks from most others in the room. Special Agent Howard Purnell reprimands Memphis in his office, calling him an embarrassment to the Bureau. Memphis, a fresh graduate of the academy, defends himself by saying his inexperience next to a seasoned veteran is an unfair comparison. Memphis recalls the words Bob Lee said to him, but another agent tells him he's misremembering as a result of extreme stress.

Bob Lee manages to find his way to a nearby store, where news mentioning him as a suspect plays over the TV. He finds a way to cut the power to the store so his face can't be seen, and persuades the owner to allow him to buy water, salt, sugar, and marinade needles. He then makes his way to a garage where he forms a makeshift IV with the items. Meanwhile, Memphis receives a call from the store owner, who suspects that her customer was Bob Lee Swagger. He presents it to another agent, who shoots it down. In his office, Memphis re-watches footage of the assassination and begins printing documents.

Bob Lee arrives in Keene City, Kentucky, at the house of Sarah Fenn, the widow of his deceased best friend. He tells her he didn't shoot the president, but she tells him that the archbishop has been killed instead. He pleads with her, telling her that he didn't come the distance he did to lie, and that if she is going to shoot him then she needs to do it quickly because he has nowhere to go. She tells him to put the truck in the garage, then picks up a phone while he's gone and calls 911, but quickly hangs up. Bob Lee returns, and 911 calls back, to which she gives an excuse. She asks how to help and he tells her he needs stitches and gives her a shopping list. He then talks about how the time since Donnie was killed seems like longer than three years.

The next morning, Memphis' colleague Alourdes Galindo meets him at the office, seeing that he never left. He explains that he did research on Swagger's prior shots and notes that information regarding the assassination came into the FBI's possession at a rate that makes no sense. He shows a target displaying five shots Bob Lee made at 1,000 yards, which had a spread of 1.5 inches, and compares that to the shot made at the president. At 2,000 yards, he concludes, Bob Lee would not have missed with such a low wind. He then tells her that Timmons' story about seeing a rifle barrel from outside the window of the building didn't make sense, as snipers take shots from cover inside the room, and says he's going to talk to him. She tells him that Timmons had been murdered the night before, in an apparent mugging.

Sarah returns to Bob Lee with the contents of his list, and he walks her through the surgery she's about to perform. He inhales the compressed air from cans of whipped spread in order to pass out, and she begins to perform on his wounds. Meanwhile, Memphis observes the scenes from which the shooting took place, and he notices evidence of a tripod having been used rather than a human shooter.

Johnson demands results from his team, to which Payne says that he could have just "crawled into a hole and died," but Sczerbiak interjects that Bob Lee is not dead. Johnson orders them to "tear apart his life, again." Bob Lee wakes up, and Sarah tells him that his dog is dead, and that they said he shot him because he knew he wasn't coming back. In a local doughnut shop, Memphis anonymously chats with a gun expert regarding the tripod, and is given a link to a precision weapon system.

While Sarah cleans his wounds, Bob Lee asks if she has a boyfriend, wondering if he would have to worry about anyone intruding on them and discovering him. He prepares to leave, with something in mind for Memphis. As he packs, Sarah brings him a rifle used by Donnie during his youth. He says he will need her help with his plan, and she agrees without even knowing what it is. He sees a photo of Donnie, and tells her that he is to blame for Donnie's death. She slaps him, saying that he knew what he was doing when he enlisted and trained, and that Bob Lee has nothing to feel bad about. They hug, and she begins to cry.

The next day, Sarah drives toward a meeting place with Memphis, staged by Bob Lee in order to draw Johnson into the open. She arrives in a short, blonde wig and exaggerates her accent during the meeting, and tells him that Bob Lee has been staying with her. She gives him photos of the stolen truck's plates and its VIN before leaving. As she makes her way to her car, two officers recognize Bob Lee and ask for his ID. When he refuses, they become hostile and he silences them before escaping.

At the office, Memphis sneaks into an off-limits area and runs the numbers he received, which require a security clearance he does not have. He asks Galindo about it, and she tells him the security clearance comes from an ASAC position. In Isaac's office, Dobbler informs him that two suspicious and corresponding activities came from a doughnut shop and the Philadelphia FBI office within the last day, and they narrow the possibilities down to Nick Memphis, the only person to meet with Bob Lee before his escape.

Memphis talks over the phone with Galindo, and she describes a company that has its hands in places they shouldn't be. As he walks, a black van pulls up beside him and abducts him, leaving his phone behind. The abductors have Memphis bound, attempting to flush the drugs out of his body before they kill him in a staged suicide. They rig the machine and put his gun into his hand, but before the gun reaches Memphis' head, one of his captors is shot in the back of the head. The second hides behind Memphis, but is shot anyway. The third, Davis, walks into the boathouse to see what is taking so long, and is shot before he can escape. Memphis struggles to see as Bob Lee approaches, and is cut out of his trap. Now aware that he was used as bait, he tries to persuade Bob Lee to hire a lawyer and work things out with the FBI. He refuses, and persuades Memphis to join him in taking them on.

Sczerbiak discusses the failed attempt to kill Memphis with Johnson, and Dobbler enters with information about Bob Lee's yearly gift of flowers to Sarah on the anniversary of Donnie's death. He sends Payne to find her. In Athens, Tennessee, Memphis and Swagger arrive at the home of a renowned gun expert. They enter his home, and he asks them what they're looking for. Bob Lee asks if a round can be fired from one rifle, but matched to another, which he confirms. The man asks Memphis to retrieve an old book from his shelf, which contains information on a technique called paper patching, in which a bullet wrapped in paper is unraveled as it exits the barrel, leaving it untraceable to the original rifle. Bob Lee asks if there is anyone alive who can make a 2,200 yard shot like the one at the archbishop, and he names Bob Lee Swagger as the most likely. He asks for another, and the man describes a brutal shooter who would "shoot to wound." He says that an artillery strike was called on him while he was inside a building, and an entire block was leveled in an attempt to kill him. Bob Lee realizes that he's talking about Sczerbiak, and leaves.

Memphis calls Galindo from a payphone and asks her to find out where Sczerbiak lives. Meanwhile, Johnson tells Sczerbiak that they plan to use him as bait to lure Bob Lee into their sights. Memphis calls once again, and she tells him that Sczerbiak is in Virginia. Johnson walks through the rain with Senator Charles Meachum and tells him that Bob Lee is still alive, and asks if he can get a plane containing 24 soldiers and supplies through Customs with no scrutiny, to which he agrees. He tells Johnson to kill him before walking away.

At her house, Sarah begins undressing when she hears a noise from outside her room. As an intruder comes into her view, she shoots him in the chest with a shotgun, but is taken by surprise by Payne, who disarms her and asks where her boyfriend is. In Lynchburg, Virginia, Memphis and Swagger plan their assault on Sczerbiak's residence, and both realize it to be a trap. They go to a local hardware store and fill their carts with equipment with which they create tear gas, napalm, pipe bombs, and camouflage apparatus. Bob Lee trains Memphis with a rifle. Meanwhile, Payne holds a bruised Sarah captive and sexually assaults her.

The next day, Bob Lee and Memphis begin their assault. Memphis spots while Bob Lee closes in on Sczerbiak's cabin, which is surrounded by armed men. Bob Lee makes his first kill silently, then sets up a napalm trap around the perimeter. He continues setting the napalm after the second kill, then retreats to the woods, where he makes his third. His fourth is less quiet, but he makes his way into the house before anyone can see him. He approaches Sczerbiak, who is looking outside in wait. Bob Lee questions him about Johnson's real name, but no name Sczerbiak knows is any more real than the others. Regarding why they went to so much trouble to recruit him, he tells Bob Lee that the wounded are easier to control and dispose of, and that he was a result of the same tactics. Bob Lee asks why the archbishop was shot, and is told that he was going to speak "the truth, that nothing, no matter how horrible, happens without the approval of government."

Bob Lee asks what happened in Africa, as this sounds like it regards a particular event. Sczerbiak confirms it, saying that an entire village was killed to make way for an oil pipeline without even having been asked to move, so the next village would not need to be asked. During their conversation, troops begin to surround the cabin. Sczerbiak tells Bob Lee that a mass grave exists under the pipeline, 10 kilometers over the Eritrean border, and that his final mission with Donnie was covering the retreat of the contractors of that very job. He then tells Bob Lee that a "senator from Montana" is the one holding Johnson's leash, but there exists no real head to kill. As Memphis warns Bob Lee that he's surrounded, Sczerbiak gives him one more bit of information: "By the way, they've got your woman." These are his last words before he shoots himself in the head.

Bob Lee tells Memphis to relocate, and begins to take on the forces surrounding them. He tells Memphis to blow the pipe bombs and gas, allowing him time to retreat. Once outside, he tells Memphis to detonate the napalm, which takes out the majority of the remaining forces. Their last obstacle is an attack helicopter, which brings him back to the moment Donnie was shot. He manages to snap back to reality, and both of them work together to bring the chopper down, with Bob Lee blowing it up with a gas tank.

In the FBI office, positive prints on shell casings found at the shootout belonging to both Bob Lee Swagger and Nick Memphis are presented to Purnell. He is initially in disbelief, but is handed the documents that confirm it. Johnson meets Meachum at a gun range, where he is chided for his failure in killing Bob Lee. From Bozeman, Montana, Memphis makes contact with Purnell, who puts him on speaker. He claims to have Bob Lee in custody, but refuses to bring him in because it isn't clear who can be trusted. After the call, Johnson calls Bob Lee and informs him that he has Sarah, but he counters with a recording of Sczerbiak's conversation with him. Bob Lee proposes an exchange: the recording for Sarah. He comments that he would like Charles Meachum to be there as well, and cites the latitude and longitude of the Eritrean mass grave to motivate him. They set a meeting point, where Johnson can see him coming from a long distance.

A helicopter containing Johnson, Payne, and Sarah lands on top of a now-covered mountain. A second, containing Meachum, lands nearby and he meets with them. Payne forces Sarah to watch as Bob Lee is shot down while approaching them, but their sniper is killed after hitting Memphis instead, who was wearing a bulletproof vest. A second sniper gets Memphis in his sights, but is killed before he can pull the trigger. A third is lured away from the scene and shot through his own scope, confusing those below. Payne yells back at Bob Lee, showing that his gun is connected to a weight mechanism that will pull the trigger on her if he is killed. During his taunts, Bob Lee shoots the stock off the shotgun, severing Payne's fingers in the process. With a maimed hand, he continues to taunt, so Bob Lee shoots off the rest of his arm, leaving him on the ground and bleeding. Bob Lee emerges from his spot and begins his approach.

At a ground base, the runner of a motel delivers a letter to Purnell from Memphis, which contains the location of their meeting. As they approach, Memphis removes the shotgun rig from Sarah and orders a search on Meachum, Johnson, and the pilot. Sarah retrieves the pistol confiscated from Meachum and kills Payne. Meachum then asks for Bob Lee to honor his part of the deal, and offers him work. Bob Lee criticizes the killings in Africa, but Meachum maintains that it was a peacekeeping decision. When the FBI closes in, Bob Lee brings the recording out and burns it in order to save their own lives. Meachum leaves, knowing they won't shoot a senator in the back. Johnson tells Bob Lee that his rifle has been in the possession of the FBI since the beginning, as it was recovered at the site of the shooting, and that no proof of his innocence exists. Bob Lee is taken into custody by the FBI.

Bob Lee is escorted into a room at the Department of Justice for a hearing with Attorney General Russert, Director Brandt, Purnell, and Johnson. He thanks Memphis for bringing Sarah along, and an object is passed to him during their handshake. Russert asks Bob Lee to begin, but Johnson asserts that he is to be let go, to which Russert tells him that a dozen calls telling him to let Johnson go have been met with the legally-required "fuck off." He allows Bob Lee to begin, and he confirms that the rifle belongs to him. He confirms that it was recovered moments after the assassination, and asks Memphis if he believes that he shot the archbishop, and if he trusts Bob Lee with his life. He says yes, and Bob Lee loads the rifle with a round (passed to him during the handshake) and aims it at Memphis, causing the others to object. He then aims it at Johnson and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. He tells them that he swapped the firing pins in every gun he owns before leaving, meaning that his gun would never have fired the shot that killed the archbishop even if they wanted it to. The bullet, an exact match to his rifle, was fired at a can of stew the week before, and recycled for use during the assassination. The proof exonerates Bob Lee, but does not implicate Johnson in any crime. Johnson calls the meeting to an end, but Memphis presents photos of the mass grave sanctioned by Johnson. Though atrocious, it cannot be punished as it occurred in another country, and he leaves, to the anger of everyone. Russert approaches Bob Lee and tells him that he understands his anger, but admits that justice does not always prevail and that "this isn't the Wild West, where you can clean up the streets with a gun, even though sometimes that's exactly what's needed." He frees Bob Lee of all charges.

Later, in a cabin in a snowy field, Johnson, Meachum, and Dobbler celebrate their success. They mock the Attorney General and plan another operation taking place in Ecuador, but Dobbler is interrupted by blood dripping onto his face from above. A body falls onto the table between them all, and Johnson realizes that Swagger has come to kill them. Johnson is shot through the chest and Meachum orders Dobbler to turn out the lights. Meachum's car is blown up as a diversion while Bob Lee sneaks under the cabin. He shoots Dobbler through the knee, then kills the guards from behind as they shoot at the floor. He enters the cabin and shoots Dobbler in the head. Meachum tries to reason with him, saying that he is a senator, but Bob Lee shoots him in the head anyway. He places the gun used to kill the others in Johnson's hand, then breaks a gas line in the house. As he walks away, the fire from the mantle ignites the gas and the cabin explodes.

Bob Lee makes his way to a car at the bottom of the mountain, where Sarah waits in the driver's seat. They drive into the distance together.

## Cast

* Mark Wahlberg as Gunnery Sergeant Bob Lee Swagger
* Michael Peña as Special Agent Nick Memphis
* Danny Glover as Colonel Isaac Johnson
* Kate Mara as Sarah Fenn
* Elias Koteas as Jack Payne
* Ned Beatty as Senator Charles F. Meachum
* Rhona Mitra as Special Agent Alourdes Galindo
* Jonathan Walker as Brent Dobbler
* Justin Louis as Special Agent Howard Purnell
* Tate Donovan as Russ Turner
* Rade Šerbedžija as Michaylo Sczerbiak
* Lane Garrison as Lance Corporal Donnie Fenn
* Alan C. Peterson as Officer Stanley Timmons
* Brian Markinson as Attorney General Russert
* Levon Helm as Mr. Rate
* Mike Dopud as Lead Mercenary
* Dean McKenzie as Archbishop Desmond Mutumbo
* Logan as Sam

## Trivia

- The rifle used in Shooter (2007) by GySgt. Swagger to test a 1 mile shot was an M200 Cheytac

-When Swagger rescues Agent Memphis and calls him “Pork,” this is a reference to what Swagger was called when trained as a scout sniper in the book Point of Impact