Movie Review: Shooter

[xrr rating=3/5]

Shooter
2007, 124mins, R
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer (s): Jonathan Lemkin, Stephen Hunter (novel)
Cast includes: Mark Wahlberg, Michael Pena, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Rhona Mitra, Elias Koteas
Release Date: 23rd March 2007

Shooter is essentially a competently staged and enjoyably played action vehicle, a film that succeeds on its solid knots and bolts understanding of what makes a thriller tick. Granted by the final half hour it has somewhat worn out its welcome and overplayed it’s hand in terms of sheer ludicrousness but everything that leads up to that point is perfectly entertaining and engineered to sit nicely beside a big bucket of popcorn.

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is a legendary sharp shooter, but one who after a disastrous tour of duty three years ago has quit the post. He now resides in isolation with only a faithful dog for company wanting nothing more to do with the immoral government he saw act first hand. Things change however when a Colonel Johnston (Danny Glover) convinces Swagger to come back and help with one final task, to help prevent the suspected assassination of the US president. With his unparalleled knowledge of far range shots Swagger helps to find out how and where the shot might be taken, only to find himself framed for the assassination attempt by the corrupted Colonel and his cohorts. Now on the run and wanted by every government bureau in town, but escape is temporary because what Swagger wants most is revenge.

Wahlberg holds Shooter together quite nicely, as the only character with any real credible writing fleshed on his bones a lot is riding on Wahlberg to provide some emotional meat beyond the action beats, and he completes the task admirably. It’s not a career making turn or one that will forever cement him as a Hollywood leading man but it’s a step in the right direction. The film largely fails to conceive any other notable characters , Swagger’s villains and allies are drawn in far too broad strokes for either to come off as memorable, and no matter how hard anyone tries Danny Glover will never be an imposing or intimidating bad guy. That sadly is just fact.

The films key saving grace is its ability to consistently provide exciting moments and well staged action, Antoine Fuqua is a workmanlike director but one with a keen eye for bravado moments of gunfire and tension. It’s these instances of popcorn ingenuity that manage to pull Shooter above the average genre pap. The screenplay is also meatier than most of its ilk, it can’t match the depth of the source novel by Stephen Hunter but in attempting to tackle more than just explosions it doesn’t disgrace it either. Characters are defiantly a little thin on the ground but the script weaves an interesting story and certainly in terms of plot largely and quite skillfully avoids genre conventions and pratfalls.

At 124 minutes few are going to debate that Shooter is clinically paced, the picture could work just as well at 20 minutes shorter. The action is all worth its stock but the warp up is a little too off the wall for its own good and it’s hard to see why Fuqua didn’t axe one of the more pedestrian supporting characters to the cutting room floor. For instance whilst it’s not a horrible performance, with a few minor rewrites Rhona Mitra’s character and subsequently seven minutes of celluloid could have been shaved off to no real disadvantage.
I’m going to give Shooter a modest recommendation because basically it does what any good thriller should, thrill. One can forgive the overstretched running and thin supporting players thanks to the taught and inventive action whilst Wahlberg does makes for a credible action hero. Action buffs would could really end up taking Shooter to heart, and for the rest of us there is certainly still enough to enjoy to warrant a watch.