Shooter (2007)

***
http://www.shootermovie.com/
Director Antoine Fuqua
Written by Jonathan Lemkin from the novel by Stephen Hunter, "Point of Impact"
Cast
Mark Wahlberg ... Bob Lee Swagger
Danny Glover ... Colonel Isaac Johnson
Michael Peña ... Nick Memphis
Kate Mara ... Sarah Fenn
Elias Koteas ... Jack Payne
Rhonda Mitra ... Alourdes Galindo

Review by
Larry Stanley

Where to start, where to start? At the very least, I have to say this is the second well-done and actually entertaining action film of 2007. This puts it ahead of last year at this time if I remember correctly.
On the other hand, maybe I should start with how American assassins all have three names. James Earl Ray, Lee Harvey Oswald, Bob Lee Swagger… maybe that was why Bob Lee was picked for a job like this?
Or how this is one of the most intense, well made films of this caliber (no pun intended) that I have seen since the first two Bourne films. Moreover, the reason I say the first 'two' is because the third in the trilogy is due out this summer and I don't want to jinx it by saying anything early.
I don't really want to go into to much about the film The Shooter but in some ways that won't be easy. To actually tell about the film you almost have to go into some detail. I think one of the most surprising things about the entire experience was Mark Wahlberg. I have been watching him grow as an actor since I first saw him on the screen as Pvt. Tommy Lee Haywood in Renaissance Man back in 1994. Back then, I never anticipated him turning into the talented actor he has. I figured him for just another flash in the pan 'pretty boy.' Ok, I was wrong.
In The Shooter, Wahlberg plays disillusioned Marine Scout Sniper Bob Lee Swagger, who retired after a mission in Ethiopia went wrong, causing the death of his best friend and partner. Living in a mountain cabin with just his dog, he is asked to help plot out a way to kill the president from over a mile away. What actually follows is an intricate action/adventure film marred only by a car chase that is much to short.
Wahlberg does an exceptional job of playing a man with little respect for his superiors but with a deeply ingrained layer of patriotism and loyalty. Moreover, this patriotism and loyalty are at the heart of this film. As a cross between Rambo and Dirty Harry, Wahlberg brings a freshness and image to this sort of character that is sorely lacking in films such as last year ultra sucky The Marine, and shows that loving ones country is still important as is doing the "right thing".
Backed up by an outstanding supporting cast, including Danny Glover and Michael Pena, Wahlberg and director Antoine Fuqua demonstrate just how a film like this is supposed to play out. I won't deny that there were a few places I was on the edge of my seat. Kate Mara who plays the widowed wife of Swagger's best friend plays her part well and shows quite nicely how to deal with a psycho who has beaten and terrorized you for several days and possibly (alluded to in the film) raped you. Elias Kosteas did a good job playing Jack Payne, a psychotic nutso who does tend to go a wee bit over the top with his character, although that is part of what was needed to give him that air of danger that was needed.
While it did seem to have its share of 'man on the run' clichés and standard scenes, it still delivers on everything it promises, and with a little extra. I would have liked to see more of the bad guys hurt, but then I am a bloodthirsty s.o.b. as most of my friends can tell you. I also love my country and my dogs. That will make sense if you see the movie.
The film tries to say a lot about what it is to be an American and live in a Nation like this without having the good guys carry flags and say the Pledge of Allegiance every other sentence. It also tries to say that sometimes one man actually can make a difference. And, while it seems to have gotten passed over all to often, that is still a concept that most Americans believe in.
One thing that has bothered me is how everyone who writes reviews for films seems to have totally missed a couple of things. They keep blaming the U.S. Government and even the F.B.I. as the bad guys in this film. Danny Glover's character has been misidentified more then once as an "evil F.B.I." agent.
Not true, Glover's character actually worked for an unnamed corporation with the money and power to hire a private army and own U.S. Senators. In fact, if you actually Watch the film instead of automatically deciding that the U.S. is at fault you will see that for once America is almost as much a victim as Bob Lee Swagger, his dead partner or any of the other folks classed as 'collateral damage' over the years.
Which leads me to wonder, since life imitates art and vice versa, just who is in charge around here?