I finally got around to watching Shooter on DVD via a Blockbuster rental. I wanted to watch the movie when I saw the trailer, but not with enough desire to actually venture to the theater.
Anyway, I heard mixed comments regarding the movie after it initially released. While I heard both positive and negative reviews, I did find this film entertaining. I do think Mark Wahlberg is an above average actor and I think a lot of the negative criticism he gets is mainly founded in his early years as Marky Mark (“Feel the vibration!”). He does an effective job in this movie portraying the patriotic, yet betrayed military veteran who believes in his country, but not entirely in the people that run it.
There was a halfway decent attempt to make long range ‘tactical’ precision shooting (aka sniping) appear realistic in the movie. The concept of ballistics, wind factors, ranging cards, lead, mils, and other technical details of precision shooting were references in the film. But you have to get past some of the more Hollywood-type portrayals of shooting. For instance, Wahlberg’s character making multiple one shot kills on moving targets at 800-900 yards away is a bit of a stretch. His character making those same stellar shots while standing in a boat on moving water from 200 yards away is even more of a stretch.
A friend of mine did mention plot holes, though I didn’t see any. There were weak spots in the plot that make you wonder why the bothered to include certain issues or characters, but no specific issue that led to an ultimate failing of the movie.
If anything, my main criticism of the movie is it’s less than stellar ending. Without spoiling the film, let’s just say the film ended in a cliched good triumphs over evil action ending.
If you’re looking for some decent entertainment in an action film and you haven’t seen Shooter yet, it’s definitely worth a once through.
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