 Tagline: Yesterday was about honor. Today is about justice. This is the world we live in, and justice does not always prevail. It's not the wild west where you can clean up the streets with a gun, even though sometimes that's exactly what's needed. Get ready for edge-of-your-seat thrills as Mark Wahlberg ignites the screen in his most compelling role yet: the Shooter. When respected former Marine scout sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg) is pressed into service to stop an assassination attempt against the President, the unthinkable occurs: he's double-crossed and framed for the attempt. Determined to prove his innocence, the rogue shooter is now in a high-tension race from every law enforcement agency in the country and a shadowy organization that wants him dead. From Training Day director Antoine Fuqua comes a gripping film co-starring Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon 4) and Michael Pena (World Trade Center). Joel Siegel of Good Morning America proclaims that Shooter is a "thriller... with a ton of white-knuckle action." Storyline: Bob Lee Swagger, one of the world's great marksmen and the son of a Congressional Medal of Honoree, is a loner living in the Rockies. He's left the military, having been hung out to dry in a secret Ethiopian mission a few years before, when he's recruited by a lisping colonel to help find a way that the President of the US might be assassinated in one of three cities in the next two weeks. He does his work, but the shot is fired notwithstanding and Bob Lee is quickly the fall guy: wounded and hunted by thousands, he goes to ground and, aided by two unlikely allies, searches for the truth and for those who double-crossed him. All roads lead back to Ethiopia. Written by Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, February 27, 2008 -- With the recent news of Blu-ray's total victory over rival format HD DVD and the announcement that we will once again be seeing Paramount Blu-ray titles on store shelves, I thought that this is as good a time as any to review the studio's most popular Blu-ray title to date, Shooter. Released only weeks before the studio switched allegiances to HD DVD exclusively in August 2007, the disc was the studio's next to last release on the Blu-ray format (Disturbia would be released a week later). Selling in excess of $50 or more on auction sites, copies disappeared quickly from store shelves as Blu-ray fans sought to add this film to their collection, in some cases paying double or triple retail value. Now that the studio is once again Blu-ray exclusive, we may very well see copies of this film popping up on store shelves very soon. If and when it does so, will it be worth your Blu-ray dollars, and was the disc worth the exorbitant prices some dedicated Blu-ray fans paid to have it in their collection? Mark Whalberg (We Own the Night) stars as U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant Bob Lee Swagger, the best sniper in the business. On a mission in Ethiopia, he and his partner are left for dead by their own government when they are ambushed by a group of heavily armed men. Swagger escapes, but his partner is killed in the attack. Several years later, Swagger lives alone in the mountains and is approached by Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover, Saw) to help his country in preventing an assassination attempt on the President of the United States. Swagger reluctantly agrees and heads to several east coast cities where the President will be speaking. He finally decides that Philadelphia is the city best suited for the potential shooter, and through his description of the likely set-up for the shot, he unwittingly plans the assassination for a group of unscrupulous men, whose reach goes far and wide, into the upper echelons of power. Set up to be the patsy, Swagger barely escapes with his life and unwittingly involves a rookie FBI agent Nick Memphis (Michael Peņa, World Trade Center), a man who begins to piece together the assassination in hopes of exonerating Swagger. Swagger becomes a man on a mission, out to prove himself innocent and punish those responsible for setting him up as the fall guy in one of the most notorious crimes in history. One of my favorite directors, Antoine Fuqua, has once again delivered an exciting, well-crafted, expertly acted, and strongly directed film. His Training Day remains, in my mind, one of if not the finest good cop/bad cop movies in cinema history, and in Shooter he once again proves his worth as a top-notch filmmaker. I found this movie well-paced, telling a believable story with a sense of realism that only Fuqua and a handful of other directors could ever pull off. Of course, the movie is meant to be nothing more than an exciting, action-packed romp, but it pulls off the material with both grandeur and class, showcasing some wonderful action sequences. It never portrays the hero pulling off the impossible, rather staying true to the kind of damage a Marine "Gunny" could pull off, never making him a superman or more than what he is. Mark Whalberg delivers another fine performance. He's come a long way since his "Marky Mark" days, establishing himself as an A-list actor with the talent to back up that monicker. Michael Peņa is also excellent as the strong willed yet somewhat clumsy and unsure of himself FBI agent Nick Memphis (cool name). All in all, Shooter is solid entertainment from top to bottom, proving to be both a first-rate actioner but also a smart thriller, and definitely deeper, more complex, and realistic than your garden variety mindless action flick. One of Paramount's last Blu-ray discs before the defection, Shooter lives up to its reputation as a much sought after film. While by no means perfect on any level, the Blu-ray is certainly one worthy of any serious collection, and action fans especially should like what they see in this one. From a technical perspective, this discs looks very good, despite a few reservations I had with it, and the audio quality is satisfactory but could have been much, much stronger with a lossless or uncompressed soundtrack. Supplements are intriguing and in-depth, all in high definition, and entertaining to boot. With Paramount's return to Blu-ray solidified and releases imminent, I hope that Shooter finds its way back onto store shelves. It's a solid movie, worth your time if you like action, Mark Whalberg, or Antoine Fuqua films. Recommended if you can find it now at a decent price or if and when it reappears for sale at regular price. Trivia:
Cast Notes: Mark Wahlberg (Bob Lee Swagger), Michael Peņa (Nick Memphis), Danny Glover (Colonel Isaac Johnson), Kate Mara (Sarah Fenn), Elias Koteas (Jack Payne), Rhona Mitra (Alourdes Galindo), Jonathan Walker (Louis Dobbler), Justin Louis (Howard Purnell), Tate Donovan (Russ Turner), Rade Serbedzija (Michael Sandor [as Rade Sherbedgia]), Alan C. Peterson (Officer Stanley Timmons), Ned Beatty (Senator Charles F. Meachum), Lane Garrison (Donnie Fenn), Zak Santiago (Senior Agent), Michael-Ann Connor (Junior Agent). IMDb Rating (05/31/10): 7.2/10 from 63,791 users
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