Shooter
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Some people don’t know what to do when their belief system collapses. Bob Lee is one of those. –Col Isaac Johnson
Maybe I should wait for the report to come out, read it and then remember. –Nick Memphis
You know, I missed a meeting today where I was going to get fired for unprofessional conduct because I was kidnapped by people that don’t exist. –Nick Memphis
I did take an oath to defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic; I just didn't figure I’d end up quite this involved. But at the end of the day, when all the dust settles, you can’t hide from the truth… –Bob Lee Swagger
Netflix says:
An expert marksman (Mark Wahlberg) is coaxed out of seclusion by colleagues who need his help in preventing a plot to kill the president. But he realizes he’s been set up when he’s framed for the assassination attempt. Can he elude the law long enough to bring the real culprits to justice? Danny Glover and Michael Peña (World Trade Center) co-star in this political thriller based on a novel by Stephen Hunter.
Netflix calls this a political thriller. And it is. But, let’s face it: it’s a shoot ‘em up movie, through and through. I’m not saying that as a negative, I’m simply clarifying the genre. Because there are different expectations for shooting movies, particularly today with all of the cinematic tools and digital techniques available to filmmakers.
Not only did I expect some government intrigue, but I also wanted to believe the shots, appreciate the setups and be blown away by the explosions. I needed to be pulled in.
The movie does a good job of setting up sympathy for the main character – he is abandoned by his leaders and is forced to watch his best friend gunned down. Though its avoidance in showing the battle’s outcome with the “Thirty-six months later” tag struck me as far too clean.
As the movie progresses, I regret having read the Netflix description. Going into it knowing that Mark Wahlberg’s Bob Lee Swagger is going to be set up for an assassination that he doesn’t commit, I’m constantly questioning, speculating, watching everything through a veil of suspicion. And, I feel like I didn’t have the same experience I could have, had I gone in blindly.
That said, I definitely get the great explosions and shoot-to-kill scenes I want, and letting the camera focus a few beats on a shirtless Mark Wahlberg never hurts. There are some great scenes where Swagger is walking back from a shoot-out and he appears almost as in silhouette against the fire blossoming up behind him. Beautiful.
And Michael Peña’s obnoxiously-named Nick Memphis (seriously, Nick Memphis?) was a great Robin to Bob Lee Swagger’s Batman. I’m not sure what that makes Rhona Mitra’s character… eye candy, I suppose. Sure she was down with the intel and worked as Memphis’s contact on the inside after he’d gone rogue, but anyone could have played that part (sorry, Rhona); but she did bring the pretty.
I realized I've barely touched on the plot and I’ve neglected to mention a good chunk of the characters. But this isn’t a review, so I’m going to continue to ignore those. What I do want to say is that “political thriller” label aside, the shooting scenes near the end of the movie (in Virginia, in Montana, on the mountaintop and at the cabin) make the movie for me. Yeah yeah, there’s plot, government is evil… whatever. Bring on the kill!!
My takeaway: Good has a way of winning out, even if the win is unconventional in thought (and involves lots of blood and bullets). And it is hard to shoot a running target from the landing foot of a helicopter in flight, especially if you’re the bad guy.
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