SHOOTER

"Take the shot"

Retired gunnery-sergeant Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg) was one of the best snipers in the US armed forces but when a threat on the President of the United States by a lone gunman is discovered, Colonel Isaac Johnson (Glover) turns to him to try and get into the mind of the potential killer. When he concludes that the assassination attempt will take place in Philadelphia and the Colonel sends his team there to protect the President but Swagger is doubled crossed as a shot rings out across the city. Now he has to discover who framed him and clear his name.

During the 1980s there was one thing that epitomised the action genre, the one-man army but can this plot devise still work in the new millennium?

A lone warrior taking on the bad guys is what drove every single action movie in the 80s and made superstars out of Stallone, Van Damme, Segal, Gibson, Willis and Schwarzenegger. These were men who could take on hundreds of henchmen with a limitless supply bullets fired with pinpoint accuracy from a huge gun, spouting deadpan one-liners along the way to saving the day. These were emotionless, hard men who had unparalleled skills, super soldiers/police officers who can make explosives from anything and cure their injures with items from the supermarket. These men were hard. Director Antoine Fuqua and his creative team want to reintroduce this kind of hero and they think Mark Wahlberg is man.

The 90s and the new millennium revealed a new kind of action hero, one that either worked with a team or was a comic book superhero and never afraid to show their emotions. 'The Shooter' mixes the best of this new direction and injects everything that made the 80s action movie king at the box office. Here we have huge explosions, thousands of bullets, inventive weapons made from household objects and the ability to cure yourself with a basic first aid kit and items from a supermarket, mixed with a smattering of modern themes such as a conspiracy theory oriented plot. This is a mix that really shouldn't have worked but for the most part it does.

Mark Wahlberg has come a long way since breaking onto the scene as rapper 'Marky Mark'. Now a respected actor with critically acclaimed performances in 'Boogie Nights', 'I Heart Huckabees' and 'The Departed', as well as gaining commercial success in movies like 'The Italian Job', 'Four Brothers' and 'The Perfect Storm', the is a role that might not really challenge his abilities but it does give him the chance to show again that he can be an action star. As Bob Lee Swagger, the ex-marine corps sniper, he is a one-man army who is trained to survive, as he keeps telling us and he has a lot of fun doing it. Michael Peņa continues to make a name for himself with another decent performance and there is also a star making turn from Kate Mara as Swagger love interest, Sarah Fenn. On the villain side we have 80s action stalwart Danny Glover having some fun, as does Elias Koteas but it is hard to take Ned Beatty seriously as Senator Charles F. Meachum, the man who has his own agenda for the United States.

'Shooter' is a movie that is more fun than it ever should have been. Successfully mixing conspiracy theory and the action excesses that dominated the 80s, this is a film that you cannot help but enjoy.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is good.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary by director Antoine Fuqua
The main at the helm of 'Shooter' talks about how adaptation of Stephen Hunter's novel. He reveals how he and his creative team approached the film and the style in which it was shot. Casting and locations are also discussed with the realism of the stunts and visual effects and the themes of the story. This is a decent single person commentary that fans of the filmmaker and the movie should enjoy.

Survival of the Fittest: The Making of Shooter (21.50 mins)
Director Antoine Fuqua, producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, author Stephen Hunter, screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin, military technical advisor Patrick Garrity and stars Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peņa and Kate Mara take you behind the scenes of 'Shooter'. Here we see the training Mark Wahlberg went through to prepare for the role, making the movie as realistic as possible and creating the high-octane action scenes.

Independence Hall (17.18 mins)
Producer Ric Kidney, military technical advisor Patrick Garrity and the park rangers for the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, talk about the history of the site, discussing the Liberty Bell, Declaration of Independence and the first congress.

Deleted Scenes (11.22 mins)
Entitled 'Nick Memphis intro at FBI', 'Timmons in the Alley', 'Sarah and Swagger discuss conspiracy', 'Extended shopping scene', 'Swagger and Memphis at the river', 'Swagger and Memphis driving after the farmhouse' and 'Swagger and Memphis in the motel room', these deleted or extended scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary track or introduction to reveal why they were removed.

Trailers
Previews of 'Transformers', 'Dreamgirls' and 'Black Snake Moan'

OVERALL

With a decent commentary and making of featurettes, the DVD treatment for 'Shooter' is good. While there could have been more about the training and the creation of the action sequences, fans should be happy with these extras.

DVD

Commando

First Blood

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2007