Shooter

i was resigned to go through another week of so-so film choices, until i realized that Shooter (directed by antoine fuqua) was actually being shown. so, off i went.

okay, bottomline, the movie does not disappoint. in fact, i plan to see it again next weekend.

bob lee swagger (mark wahlberg) — if this name doesn't give you a hint of this guy's stature, you're obviously not a fan of the genre — is your average dyed-in-the-wool, pumped-up alpha male. a superlative sniper, he goes about his business with a profficiency that wastes no time in small talk or second thoughts; and the guy loves his dog (which looks like a Leonberger to me).

swagger is an ex-sharpshooting marine who has been living alone in his mountain retreat after his last mission, which had killed his friend and spotter, went awry. he reluctantly agrees to help a shadowy government group, ostensibly to help protect the US president from an imminent assassination attempt. but things horribly go wrong…

action film buffs who like shoot-em-ups will enjoy this movie because lots of things explode and the action sequences are tightly woven for maximum effect. Shooter works best when it delves into technical details (who would've thought that the art of effective sniping would involve such variables as wind speed, temperature, earth's curvature, etc.). however, it stumbles when it tries to spout geopolitical gibberish to support it's rather shaky plot.

wahlberg here looks like he could nails for breakfast, and when he describes the details of his deadly craft in a flat monotone you could almost feel the zing of the bullet as it reaches for the hapless target. the support acting job ranges from competent to indifferent to plainly bad. sheesh, i didn't realize danny glover could get this bad. he's woefully miscast here.