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Summary:
Bob Lee Swagger is a gifted Marine sniper who, after getting fucked over in an illegal mission, gets out of the Marines and lives a life as a hermit. Some high class government suits hunt him down and ask for his help on planning an assassination against the president from a shot over a mile away. If he can plan it, then he can prevent it.
It turns out they frame him, he goes on the lam and tries to clear his name.

Review:
I was waiting for the moment when Swagger would tell fresh-from-recruit school agent Nick Memphis, "I did NOT - KILL - MY WI-- er, uh, THE PRESIDENT!" This movie's plotline is not an original concept, and even The Fugitive wasn't an entirely new concept. What matters is the fun to be had in the chase, as well as rooting for the mouse against the behemoth saber toothed tiger that chases him.
I don't dislike Marky-Mark, I think he's actually a capable actor. Enough acceptance of his badassery for Shooter kept me within the realms of believability. This is good. Michael Peņa was alright as well, providing some giggles along the way, with just enough sarcasm as to make his sweet delivery slightly bitter. Yum! Kate Mara doesn't do it for me below the waist - sorry, guys, but her jutting jawline reminds me of a woman with tobacco in her mouth the whole time. She was serviceable with her performance, but I was disjointed by her character's almost immediate romantic acceptance to Swagger. That's not HER fault, though! Danny Glover was soft-spoken and not too important, but Elias Koteas - CASEY JONES! - also gave me some good laughs, especially at the scene in the end. I laughed!

The first half of the movie was a pretty fun time, with a somewhat corny opening scene in which he's sniping the shit outta some insurgents (THAT was pretty cool), and then his best friend that's his spotter gets killed. That's the part that was kinda corny. I had to wonder, was a situation that involves a helicopter and Swagger trying to save his spotter going to come into play in the future? Is this movie REALLY going to go that route? That would be wayyyy too obvious! Right? RIGHT?!
Not much action takes place for the first 40 minutes or so outside that opening scene, and the movie spends its time with Swagger scoping out different venues in search of the perfect assassination from such a long range, yadda yadda... then he gets framed, and he's runnin' for his life, bleeding from two bullet holes in his body, and getting searched by the military, feds and anyone ELSE that's alive.
Minus the really corny self administered IV sequence, I was going along with the ride. But then, things started to make a turn for the worst. It started when he's hugging and consoling his deceased best friend's wife. They are within a millimeter of kissing, and I couldn't see how things would go that far in just a couple hours. Gimme a fucking BREAK! But I'm still with ya! It's ok... until about 5 minutes later, when the baddies try to concoct a suicide machine to present the idea that agent Memphis shoots himself. It's laughably outrageous, and I wondered how anyone would ever fail to see the obvious signs of struggle from using this machine. I'm not even forensics, but I'd see the marks!

After this scene, it's more or less the kick into the last half of act two, and things really start getting stupid. There's a fun to watch action scene where he takes on what seems to be an entire payroll of mercenaries - or are they real American soldiers? I don't really know - with big explosions and shit. YEAH!!!
It's after this amazing and beyond far-fetched battle scene that Shooter turns into more than idiotic and into the realm of BAD. I don't want to think about how far the third act strays from not just the serious tone that it tried to keep, but also making the bad guys beyond deplorable and nothing more than a vehicle for the audience to jeer at. They are conceited, evil, pompous and proud. They shove their evil ways in Swagger's face like rubbing a dog's nose in its own shit. Somewhere in there is the attempt at presenting a political message, but I'm not buying it. At this point, there are so many plot holes made within a 20 minute block that I'm completely thrown out of even this movie's realm of disbelief.
When the final scene finally arrived, I had already given up and just wished Shooter to end and save itself from more embarrassment.

With a passable and somewhat entertaining first half, Shooter became it's own punchline by the last 30 minutes. It fell apart in the worst ways possible, taking the cheap political message route without an intelligent presentation of this theme, as well as concocting action sequences similar to HITMAN 2 and your latest foray into the FPS world by fighting hundreds of soldiers by yourself. Even though the final half needed to be rewritten and never shot, Shooter doesn't completely miss the mark and managed to still be somewhat satisfying on the most base, brainless level of the male fiber of my being. It could have been really kickass, but instead is just... meh.

GRADE: C

Reviewed 3/26/07