Shooter

Shooter is a generically titled studio action picture that turns out to be a surprisingly deft satire about Americans' loss of faith in their government following the 2000 election, the 9/11 attacks, and the ensuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wahlberg could be the actor that action movies have been looking for since Sly, Arnold, Harrison, Bruce, Jackie and Jean-Claude -- all in their 50s or 60s -- got too old to execute the leg lifts necessary to kick bad guys in the butt.

Like most modern action films, Shooter is too explicit, more interested in mayhem than motive.

The picture might be entertaining if it didn't take itself so seriously.

Though much of the action in Shooter is beautifully photographed, the movie's force is as a blunt instrument of metaphor. Shooter is a video-game-fantasy version of the 2006 midterm elections, a howl of rage at the hypocrisy of the Bush presidency and the Iraq war.

A screwy assassination thriller for these murky times, it takes half its pages from Soldier of Fortune and the other half from links provided by conspiracytheories-zapoppin.org.

Less subversive and infinitely less intelligent than 1999’s Wahlberg-starrer "Three Kings," this movie does blow lots of s--- up real good and punish contemptible public figures otherwise left unaccountable for massacring African villagers.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Strengths: Engaging action sequences, Mark Wahlberg's performance as Swagger. Weaknesses: Reliance on damsel in distress trope, underdeveloped female characters, plot holes, inconsistent character motivations, and morally ambiguous ending.

A normal movie about a topic that interests me, i.e. about a sniper. Fans of the genre should definitely watch it

Very rarely where a film tries to copy the Jason Bourne franchise and fail. It follows the framed person trying to clear his name, and then turns into a complete mess, filled with uninteresting politics and how the government is corrupted. Compare to the Bourne series, it's pretty tame. It goes for adding plot elements that even re-watching it, it will still leave you confused. The action is decent but doesn't pull any new or tried something that hasn't been done recently. The characters generic and the finale changes the tone and not in a good way. It's like the writer just made things up as he went along. Anybody who wants to see a smart thriller involving the government should avoid this, unless you want to leave in confusion; you better stick with the Jason Bourne franchise, it's done better in terms of writing acting, directing and doesn't need to be complex to be good.

Comment un rÃalisateur comme Antoine Fuqua, qui a pu pondre une merveille avec Training Day, peut-il descendre aussi bas dans la sobriÃtÃ? Car oui, Shooter est un film "trop" classique, qui n'a pas peur d'user jusqu'au bout des personnages et des clihÃs mille fois vues, sans pour autant rÃvolutionner quoi que ce soit dans le genre "film d'action de sÃrie B". Et le pire, c'est que le film se prend trop au sÃrieux pour être vÃritablement intÃressant. A la limite, un bon nanar avec Stallone ou Van Damme passe bien... Non, franchement, Shooter est un banal divertissement qui se laisse regarder (faut quand même le reconnaÃtre), mais qui n'est ni rÃussi, ni efficace, ni mÃmorable!