Shooter [2007] (DVD)

Laughably simplistic political spin mars film Sadly, if one could have told this screenwriter to give up thinking and simply write a typical vacuous Hollywood script, this would have been excellent. The plot is solid and keep one's interest while Danny Glover and Mark Wahlberg offer decent performances. The attempts at some kind of contemporary political relevance are awkward and trite, however, really undermining the movie. It was clearly an area beyond the writer's capabilities. The insistent conspiracy theory scaffolding offers absolutely nothing original: the government is evil, all humankind is greedy, there is no justice in the 'Department of Justice' (oh the irony!), oil can explain absolutely everything that has ever happened, and democracy is not democracy - all according to the usual formula. The US government is presented as the stereotypical monolith of corruption, but our hero is there to battle the system (somehow the evil and ubiquitous 'System' let this film slip through). All this is conveyed to us with the simple moral smugness of someone who can only think in monochrome - and only on Sundays. Ultimately, the slew of conspirational cliches - including everything from JFK to Abu Ghraib and Iraq - end up parodying conspirational logic: explanations come with laughable ease and assurance. If there is an accident on the road tomorrow, this fellow would tell me 'the US/British government did it to make me late for work'; cynicism would be his great 'proof'. While that might work for him and (frighteningly) for some others, it doesn't do it for me. This kind of naive, uninformed social commentary for simpletons will bother different people to different degrees. Personally, it got in the way of an otherwise enjoyable plot. My eyes were rolling like two ships in a hurricane as the overwhelming stupidity of the script gathered force.

No Hunter magic A passable, cliched action flick, but one that is ultimately disappointing. As a long-time fan of Stephen Hunter, 'Point of Impact' (the source of 'Shooter') is one of my favourite novels, but this misses the magic, the pathos and heart of Hunter's work. Mark Wahlberg does his best, but he is miscast - he is too small and runty and emotionally shallow - Hunter's Swagger is a tall, rangy southerner, a brooding, tortured loner. Even more miscast is Danny Glover - he's always been rubbish, but here he is painful. Michael Pena and Elias Koteas are the only actors to emerge with honour. Competently staged and directed, passably scripted, forgettably scored, this is popcorn moviemaking and ultimately ordinary and quite forgettable.

Enjoyably Average Not as good as the best reviews suggest. Not as bad for me as those that slammed it. Reasonable story on the whole well acted. The action scenes well done and the film held your attention till the end. However I never really identified with the main character and didn't really care whether he survived. The film also lacked excitement and the characters were never properly developed. I recently watched Man on Fire and this film is not in the same league. However if you lower your expectations you should enjoy it.

Shooter: I first saw this as a rental on reccomendation. As I hadn't heard of this movie before, I thought it'll be just another one of those low budget shoot'em, chase'em films with totally unbelievable characters and frankly stupid special effects. Before I watched the actual movie I had a quick look at the 'special features', and it looked like this might not be so bad after all. So I watched the movie and absolutely enjoyed every moment, so much so that I ordered a copy as soon as it became available as sell thru. True it's not without some flaws. As a previous reviewer mentioned, the Danny Glover character (Col Issac Johnson) is cringe worthy, quite a pity really as he's otherwise a good actor. Attention to detail and weapons drill is excellent, though I echo the implausible head shot at 200 yards from a moving platform, with a bog standard .22 hunting rifle!. Watch out for the exaggerated but brilliant sonic shock wave effect when Mark Whalberg test fires his old Cheyenne Tac M200 at a tin can, it's a fierce looking piece of kit. There's also an envy educing scene where he's firing an assault weapon from the left shoulder!!, (Readers in Ireland will know what I mean here). Fans of all things 'Southern' will love the old gunsmith character in Tennessee!. All in all it's an enjoyable little shoot-fest and I can without doubt reccomend you get a copy. p.s. If they killed my dog, I'd want to seek a terrible revenge too!

Very very bad movie You'll be dissapointed if you shell out your hard earned for this pile of crap. There's one scene where Wahlberg looks noticeably embarrassed to be delivering such contrived and cliched one liners. The movie is utterly devoid of any real purpose, the plot is full of holes, and the whole thing has been done so many times before, and usually so much better. Seriously, avoid this. Treat yourself to Enemy of the State which is a much slicker, better paced action movie.