This will be the first and last Berenger reference...Shooter (film review)

I loved 300 as much as the next dude. Unfortunately, the movie grinds to an epic halt everytime they cut to Queen Gorgo's story of "political intrigue". It really got in the way of the wonderfully shot action.

"Shooter", directed by Antoine Fuqua of Training Day...and King Arthur fame, is a movie that does not fall into the same trap.

Now, what follows may come off as very hyperbolic, but I assure you I gave it 3 days before I wrote anything about this movie. I loved it when I walked out of the theater...and I still love it 3 days later. I feel like I haven't had this much fun in an action flick since I saw Peter Berg's masterpiece "The Rundown". That last sentence is saying a lot if you know my tastes at all. A few people around the net have thrown around the overused "throwback '80s action flick" phrase in describing "Shooter". I think its warranted here.

The plot is nothing groundbreaking, but it serves its purpose of moving the story from action scene A to action scene B. Mix one part "Commando" with one part "Bourne Identity" and you pretty much get "Shooter". Fuqua catches your attention right from the beginning of the movie with an excellent sniping action scene. It starts out very rote and very much based in military reality and escalates into action film fantasy. I was hooked from then on. One might think on paper that watching action scenes based around sniping would be boring, but Fuqua pulls no punches and makes all the kills quite brutal and graphic. A lot of arterial sprays, large bullet wounds, etc. add a lot to each of the action sequences. In the middle of the movie, there is a very memorable assault on a farm in Virginia, which once again shines due to the pacing of the action. It starts slow and involves more intimate kills and then escalates into a massive firefight involving huge explosions and lots of chaos.

As for performances, I think Mark Wahlberg shines in the role of a deadly super soldier patsy on the run. He gives a believable performance even if he looks like he stepped out of an Abercrombie catalog from time to time. Danny Glover was serviceable in his evil military dude role, but I think one of the real standouts was Ned Beatty as an evil senator. He evoked shades of Chelcie Ross' Senator Baynard from "The Last Boy Scout". I had a great time watching him be a total pompous ass throughout the film. Elias Koteas' (yes, he was Casey Jones in the live action Ninja Turtle films) sheer sleaziness practically stole the show. There were also some great looking women in the film too (another 80s action flick staple!). Kate Mara did well as the damsel in distress, and we got see her in a bra. Rhona Mitra was nice eye candy even though her character was totally useless.

All of this brings me to what may be the one true problem I had with the film: Michael Pena. His character goes from disgraced FBI rookie, to conspiracy crazy nutjob, to special forces level sniper over the course of the film. He is sometimes played as comic relief and most of the other times he is used to reveal more aspects of the conspiracy framing Wahlberg's Bob Lee Swagger character. Halfway through the movie, after one scene showing pena being trained, he becomes a face paint wearing badass sniper. That was definitely a little hard for me to buy. But it was a small pet peeve for me.

Overall, "Shooter" does what an action movie should do best, the action. For the past few years, Hollywood has been trying to "smarten up" their action films and it has just diluted the market. Thankfully, the rated "R" movies are back en vogue and more importantly making big bucks at the box office. I think "Shooter" is a great example of how to make a modern action classic. So, go see it...because the Ninja Turtles are currently kicking its ass at the box office.