Shooter

Fugua is definitely not a loser (see KevSpa), when he takes on a solid script he can turn it into a very watchable affair like Training Day, its unfortunate then that he has to deal with people like Jonathan Lemkin, a strange character in the movie business in general. On the one hand, he can create such a marvel as Hackford's Devil's Advocate and then embarrass himself with a monstrosity like Red Planet, where you're not sure if the screenwriter is being serious. And Shooter will give you the same feeling with a lot of the dialogue and a few unintentionally absurd situations. Then neither the great Wahlberg, who was perhaps born for badass roles, nor Fugua, who proves his craftsmanship in action scenes, can save the day. At least the snipers' final showdown in the snowy mountains is definitely worth a look. If you don't mind tired clichés and dull dialogue, add as many stars to the overall rating as you like. PS: But Antoine, the nearly 20-second slow motion shot of Mark's macho walk really isn't cool. :) (24.06.2007)

A simple and straightforward action film, where the screenwriter probably got fired in the middle of the shooting and then it was just improvisation. Fortunately, Antoine Fuqua can still do it, and Mark Wahlberg is good with these badasses, so in the end, it's an inoffensive average. (22.04.2007)

Bob Lee Swagger may not be the new Jason Bourne, but his great luck is that he doesn't want to be. He wants to be an old-school, uncompromising hero, and he excels at it. Wahlberg is excellent as a cold-blooded machine, and his sniper performances, whether in a war atmosphere or in the quiet snow, fascinated me with every shot and deliberate quickness. And when he makes fun of patriotic speeches, it's settled. I'm not saying that Shooter is flawless, because the villains keep repeating lines like "Swagger is still alive," even though they don't make much effort to catch him, but such stumbling adds a little charm to a good action film. (24.07.2007)

In the currently fashionable trend of building action on fast editing and lots of CGI effects, Shooter is a very likable old-school alternative, which does not hide its ambitions to be a stylish B-movie. In addition, its plot and narrative style, built on basic clichés, blatantly refers to the genre mannerisms of action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Fuqua understands that well-mastered craftsmanship can do a lot. Therefore, despite its 2-hour runtime Shooter is a very enjoyable time spent in a whirlwind of compelling action that centers around the divine Mark Wahlberg, who never lets his pissed-off expression drop and makes you think of the greatest action fighters who dominated similarly-themed films 15 years ago. And if he had sharper catchphrases, I’d give it five stars! For the genre-devoted viewer, this is the ultimate comfort food, whereas for the rest of the world, based on other reviews, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. (16.06.2007)

This isn’t downright bad. After all, the beginning throws out a hook and it carries on pretty well, but ab hour later, instead of heading for an action ending, absolutely unexplainably and needlessly it starts dragging things out and out and out... In some places there’s a good moment, while occasionally there’s horrendous one (the flashback with the helicopter is pure, undiluted hell), but most of the time it keeps within the boring, stagnant, completely uninteresting waters of a mundane B-movie that is pretending to be more than is. Simply another standard offering from the routineer that Fuqua is, was and always will be. (04.07.2007)