Product Description

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), a former Marine Corps sniper who leaves the military after a mission goes bad. After he is reluctantly pressed back into service, Swagger is double-crossed again. With two bullets in him and the subject of a nationwide manhunt, Swagger begins his revenge, which will take down the most powerful people in the country.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1348 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .15 pounds
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.com
A movie that would not have been out of place in the run of paranoid-political thrillers of the 1970s, Shooter works an entertaining variation on the assassination picture. Mark Wahlberg, carrying over good mojo from The Departed, slides neatly into the character of Bob Lee Swagger, master marksman. Swagger has retreated from his duty as an off-the-books hired gun for the military, having become disillusioned with his government (switching on his TV at his remote mountain cabin, he mutters, "Let's see what kind of lies they're trying to sell us today."). Ah, but the government needs Swagger to scope out the location of a rumored attempt on the life of the president, so a shadowy government operative (Danny Glover) begs Swagger to use his sniper's skills to out-fox the assassin. From there--well, spoilers are not fair, since the movie has a few legitimate shocks and a very nice wrong-man scenario about to unfold.

A novel by the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Stephen Hunter gives the movie a logical spine, even if the premise itself is the stuff of conspiracy theorists. Wahlberg gets support from Michael Pena, as a skeptical FBI agent; Kate Mara, as a trustworthy widow; and Ned Beatty, trailing along memories of Network, as a supremely cynical Senator. Along with the well-executed action sequences (the previously unreliable director Antoine Fuqua gets it in gear here), the movie includes a few potshots at the Bush administration. No, that doesn't put Shooter at the level of The Parallax View or All the President's Men, but it provides some tang along with the flying bullets. --Robert Horton

Beyond Shooter

More Sniper / Hit Man Movies on DVD

More DVDs with Mark Wahlberg

The Novel

Customer Reviews

Edge of your seat thriller
After a mission gone awry, Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) now leads a solitary existence in the mountains of Wyoming. When he is called back to assist a covert military group (headed by Danny Glover) in determining how to pull off an assasination attempt, he soon discovers that he's been set up in an elaborate ruse to take the fall. Hell hath no fury like a Marine scorned, and Swagger becomes a PO'ed two-man army (once he hooks up with disgraced FBI agent Michael Pena), determined to bring the real culprits to justice. Directd by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day"), this high octane conspiracy thriller just doesn't let up and will keep the viewer guessing. Though it's pretty violent - it's well worth watching!

My only drawback was having to hear Glover's dialogue - was it me or did he have some really ill-fitting dentures that provided him with the most annoying lisp. I was just waiting for them to fall out. Overall though, Glover has not given a more chilling performance since "Witness," and Wahlberg who can also be pretty menacing, proves to be a great action hero.

The DVD extras include a great behind the scenes segment featuring the technical advisor, himself a former military sniper, who provides insight into that occupation as well as the weapons used in the movie.

worth watching
Well at first the premise of the movie didn't really interest me. I thought it looked like your typical Army movie with just a lot of blood shed and a boring plot. In actuality it is Bourne Ultimatum starring Mark Walhberg instead of Matt Damon. Government conspiracies abound and they all relate back to "guy works for government and guy gets set up" and that is what this is. A former army shooter who is contracted to teach the FBI how to kill the president so they can stop it, when in reality they are framing him. Luckily he has one FBI agent who believes him and the two of them team up to take on the U.S. government together. Decent flick, something to do for .99 cents.

Mediocre
In Shooter, Mark Wahlberg, a highly-trained Marine sniper, is set up by the CIA. Hired to do reconnaissance, he unwittingly falls for the trap sprung by Danny Glover and his agency henchmen. Through sheer perseverance and with the help of his best friend's ex-fiancee, he survives and lives to seek revenge. Eventually, viewers learn that the assassinated Ethiopian cleric was going to reveal the massacre of innocent people in his country by American oil interests.

Shooter suffers because it offers nothing new. It did not up the ante in terms of special effects. The scenarios were rather trite, and the action sequences were lackluster. With an open-ended finale, the viewer receives the impression that the filmmakers seemed to be torn by ambiguity. On the one hand, Wahlberg kills Glover and his corrupt government friends. However, the interests responsible for the massacre and others like it are then left relatively unscathed. Put another way, the movie appears to be hinting at the absurdity of life, but also suggests that a single person can make a difference.