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SYNOPSIS:
When respected former Marine scout sniper Bob Lee Swagger
is pressed into service to stop an assassination attempt against
the President, the unthinkable occurs: he's double-crossed
and framed for the attempt. Determined to prove his innocence,
the rogue shooter is now in a high-tension race from every
law enforcement agency in the country and a shadowy organization
that wants him dead.
MOVIE
REVIEW
The
word “Sniper” won’t be that unfamiliar to
male Singaporeans who went through at least 2 years of their
life serving the nation and to top it off, most of us would
have at least fire a live M-16 once during that time.
And
so when a military premise movie liked “Shooter”
came along, I’m definitely game for the DVD review (since
I missed the theatrical run). And yes to a certain extent,
it doesn’t disappoint.
Mark
Wahlberg starred as Bob Lee Swagger, a skilful Marine Sniper
who left the army to live in reclusion after his spotter buddy
was killed in a mission. But for patriotic reasons, Bob is
reluctantly lured back to assist the government by a certain
Colonel Isaac Johnson (played by Danny Glover) to prevent
an assassination attempt on the President.
From
this point on, the plotting starts to get interesting, Johnson
frames Bob for an assassination attempt, which killed a religious
figure. And what's the damn motive behind all this? To differentiate
itself from a cheesy B-grade mindless action flick, screenwriter
Jonathan Lemkin throws in countless references and jabs at
the current political status in the US. Issues of oil control,
corrupted politicians and ex-military personnel are brought
up to fatten up the conspiracy. It does help that with Antoine
Fuqua (“Training Day”) at the helm, the right
amount of messages are conveyed without resorting to overkill.
Fuqua
also did a great job satisfying the action fans. The action
is brutal and violent (it’s a sin to expect a gun-toting
movie without the blood factor isn't it). I’m not sniper-trained
while I was in the army but instinct-wise, finally there’s
some sniper’s mumbo-jumbo that looks and sounds believable
in a movie.
Credit
has to go to ex-CK underwear model and singer, Mark Wahlberg
for his charisma in taking on an action role once again (Remember
the remake, “The Italian Job”). He has a killer
line in “Shooter”, something about his dog which
will have you in stitches.
Another
impressive job done, which I need to mention, is the cinematography
done by Peter Menzies, his lush wide shots of British Columbia;
Philadelphia is a luxury to the eyes. You don’t really
see these widescreen views often onscreen these days. We hope
Bay did that in “Transformers”. It’s called
“pulled back the camera”.
“Shooter”
is an enjoyable action flick, not entirely mindless but not
exactly taxing on the brains either. The premise sounds similar
to another straight-to-video movie, “The Contractor”
which starred Wesley Snipes (I did the DVD review as well)
but “Shooter” scores higher on the pyrotechnics
and a decent intriguing plot that is well worth a peek on
home video.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains a nice slew of features,
first up is Commentary by Director Antoine Fuqua.
Fuqua has a great time working on the movie with the cast
and his producers who did a great job coordinating the various
locations shooting. And it shows here that he is one generous
guy who is always ready to give his working partners’
credits when it’s due. In addition, the track contains
lots of background information which includes logistics, preparation
work for “Shooter” etc.
Survival
of the Fittest: The Making of Shooter is an approximately
20 minutes making of special which includes Mark Wahlberg
preparation as a sniper from a real military advisor prior
to shooting. There’s also an interview with Stephen
Hunter who wrote the book in which this movie is based on.
If
you loved history, you might like Independence Hall,
a short 7 minutes feature which highlights the origins of
the United States’ Independence Hall where some of the
shots in the movie are filmed.
Lastly,
a 12 minutes Deleted Scenes, which focus
more on Wahlberg’s character Bob Swagger roundup the
extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Applaud this DVD transfer because it’s just so good.
The colours are sharp, bright and alluring. This is no arty-farty
stuff but the grand cinematography makes you craving to reach
for it on your tv screen.
Dialogue
is clear and the heavy gunshots in the movie make good use
of the Dolby Digital 5.1. It’s especially lively during
the opening sequence and the farmhouse sequence towards the
end.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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