Review of Shooter (2007) by Jim C — 16 Jun 2011

From Antoine Fuqua, the director of "Training Day," and starring Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Mark Wahlberg ("The Departed," "Invincible") comes an edgy, nonstop action thriller about an honorable and brilliant marksman who finds himself in an unthinkable situation: framed as a Presidential assassin. Plunged into a shocking vortex of terror and conspiracy, the rogue shooter discovers the race is on to prove his innocence even as he is pursued by every law enforcement agency in the country, as well as a shadowy organization on a relentless manhunt aimed at destroying the secrets he has uncovered.

In a gripping action performance, Mark Wahlberg stars as Bob Lee Swagger, a former Marine scout sniper and disgruntled American hero who thought he had walked away from the job forever after a devastating betrayal. Now, despite having sequestered himself in a stunning but remote mountain hideaway, Bob is approached by retired Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover), who tells him the country desperately needs him. As Johnson tells it, an assassination attempt on the President of the United States is imminent and only Swagger's lethal skills and savvy expertise in long-range ballistics can halt the threat.

Swagger reluctantly agrees one last time to serve his country - but what he doesn't know is that the entire mission is a set-up by a dark government cabal with its own agenda. By the time Swagger realizes the event has been rigged, it's too late. Suddenly, he finds himself in the headlines as the lone gunman who tried to shoot the President. Hunted at every turn, with nowhere to hide and no one to help him except a mystified woman he's just met (Kate Mara) and a novice FBI agent risking his career (Michael Peña), Swagger is in a desperate battle which will put everything he knows to the test. The clock is ticking as he tries to figure out who the real hit men are before they hit him. But Swagger soon realizes even more than his own survival is at stake - because he's about to lift the veil off a devastating conspiracy at the very heart of American power. Paramount Pictures presents a di Bonaventura Pictures production of an Antoine Fuqua film, "Shooter," starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Elias Koteas, Rhona Mitra, Rade Sherbedgia and Ned Beatty. The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay by Jonathan Lemkin, based upon the novel "Point of Impact" by Stephen Hunter.

The core American value of honor has become a scarce commodity in today's politically complicated and increasingly corrupt world - but it lies at the very heart of Bob Lee Swagger, the sniper hero of "Shooter," who finds himself in the middle of his worst possible nightmare after he is framed as a Presidential assassin. Trusted by no one, hunted by an angry, frightened nation and haunted by his own past, Swagger must use every military, ballistic and psychological skill he has, and then some, to not only survive but try to restore the honor that means so much to him. Yet far more than his personal honor is at stake. His battle is also for the honor of the country he loves, as he finds himself caught in a dark web of deceit that reaches into the very heart of the U.S. government - which has been hijacked by a secret association bound only by its hunger for power and willingness to violate the public trust.