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Review

Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) once again helms a high budget Hollywood retro action flick, with Mark Wahlberg in the key role as covert sniper Bob Lee Swagger. Danny Glover and Ned Beatty represent the military and legislative branches of the U.S. government, here painted as morally bankrupt and, in today’s parlance, pawns in a giant conspiracy driven shadow government. This is the underpinning that holds this adrenaline romp together and gives it a somewhat serious tone, although the subject matter is thin and at times murky in conception. The simple premise that later evolves into something more complex, has Swagger tapped by the FBI to consult on the possible attempt of the president’s life, overseeing an operation that supposedly will thwart the action. This turns out to be a trap set to blame the attempt on Swagger himself, setting him on a fugitive flight from the government bad guys and presenting a good series of action sequences set first in Philadelphia, then Kentucky, Montana and beyond. Michael Pena as Nick Memphis lends a supporting hand as an agent done wrong by the agency who comes over to Swagger’s side and learns to fight the good fight.

Filled with spectacular explosions as a backdrop to slow-motion wide-angle shots of Wahlberg striding heroically through the landscape, there is much to admire in the well-edited pacing of this somewhat traditional action adventure. At times, some of the dialog and postures of the main characters verge on the preposterous, but these are countered by passages of logic and clarity, coloring the whole affair as slightly uneven in tone and texture. The script manages to blame the Iraq war, revolutions in Africa, even the Kennedy assassination on this shadowy government conspiracy. Of course, there is ample material that could lend credence to these allegations and the script wisely glosses over details to deliver a damning message that bumps this film up a notch.

Overall, Shooter entertains throughout its two-hour run and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

 -- Max Brinck