Shooter stars Mark Wahlberg as Bob Lee Swagger, the best marksman in the United States. After being abandoned on an aborted mission, he goes into exile with his dog. (By the way, I guarantee if you see the movie, you will want a dog like this one.)
He is coaxed out of retirement by Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny "I'm seriously getting too old for this" Glover). Swagger is then framed for attempting to assassinate the same president he was assigned to protect. Swagger escapes the ambush and embarks on a quest to find out who did this to him and why.
The movie has an Oscar-heavy cast and crew with Antoine Fuqua, who directed the Academy Award-winning Training Day and Wahlberg, who this past year was nominated for best supporting actor in The Departed. Wahlberg is out of the shadows as a supporting actor and is front and center in Shooter. He does the action hero persona well. This is no Sgt. Dignam, but he does it well enough.
My favorite performances, however, came from the supporting cast, particularly Michael Peña and Kate Mara. The real hero of the film is Peña's character, FBI agent Nick Memphis, who sees through the set-up and wants to help Swagger. Mara plays Sarah Fenn, the widow of Swagger's old partnerand the only person Swagger can turn to after the fiasco concerning the assassination attempt on the president's life.
Glover's performance in this film, however, is definitely not his best. I could not tell if the lisp in the movie was real or something that he created for the character. It's distracting and shows Glover -- though he has had some great roles (i.e. Operation Dumbo Drop) -- is losing his game.
The plotline is simple and very Fugitive-like. Man is framed, man escapes, man goes on ass-kicking revenge rampage. This leads to cover-ups, sneakiness, silent guard killings and, of course, assorted explosions. All of these ingredients make for a pretty good action movie.
What keeps this movie from being great, however, is its crutch on oil. It makes many references to the United States' hunger for foreign oil and how oil is impacting the shifts of power in the United States. This is what annoys me most about the film. If one wants to make a political statement, keep it outside of my movies. Put that kind of stuff in an Al Gore documentary. I also think it dates the movie to this time period, making it old news in about three years.
In addition, Ned Beatty (CSI) plays a senator in the film. Now, I'm sure director Fuqua based that character directly on the media interpretation of Vice President Dick Cheney. He's cast as a very pessimistic oil mongrel and is willing to kill for the profit of America. He's out in a field holding a shotgun for Pete's sake -- there are quails.
Sure, we can relate to that because it reminds us of modern times, but isn't the purpose of a movie to give us a two-hour break from reality? Unless I'm watching a documentary, don't remind me of reality in an action film. Blow more stuff up and think of something a little more original than oil, because OPEC is so not fetch (yes, I said it, someone owes me $25).
Despite these crutches, Shooter is a solid action romp. Guns, explosions, deception and espionage all make Shooter a satisfying movie. Although, I wouldn't go so far as to say that everyone should see it in theaters. If you liked Training Day and want to see a pretty good action flick, honestly, I say rent it when it comes out on DVD. But if you want to see Marky Mark blow stuff up with a funky bunch. Come on. Feel the vibration.
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