...a terrific hero performance by Mark Wahlberg
What’s the difference between fabricated violence and violence that violates the
soul? And why is the first acceptable in movies and the latter intolerable?
Isn’t it true that fictionalizing violence that can or does happen in real life
diminishes both the abomination of the violence and the suffering of its
victims? Brutalities by the powerful over the powerless rarely work in an
entertainment medium unless made by a master.
Not so for
the fictitious, and “Shooter” is a fiction of special effects - an action
thriller, pure and simple, that has been adapted for the screen from Stephen
Hunter’s book with great skill and a guarantee of two hours of entertainment for
the audience. It has a fine action premise, a terrific hero performance by Mark
Wahlberg, and dazzling photography. It moves with the speed of light, the better
to cover up the huge holes in the plot, but never mind; just follow the writers
who simply blow past illogical impossibilities.
Super sniper
Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) and his spotter are Special Forces agents on a
mission in a place where Americans have no legitimate business – Ethiopia.
Abandoned by their commanders when the going gets rough, the spotter is killed.
The next scene finds Swagger in a cliché of a mountain cabin back in the U.S., a
bitter recluse with a head full of information, intelligence, skills, and
experience. It’s no hard task to recruit him from his isolation to lead an
attempt to abort an assassination of the president of the U.S. Think frame-up,
betrayal, great driving, nasty villains, vengeance, and imaginative fireballs.
Usually these clichés are wasted in mediocre efforts but the photography here is
so good that everything works.
Why is
Swagger the only one among us not to spot trouble early in the planning? Well,
to be charitable, such things always work the same way: the top level
conspirators know all; the second level, the sharply talented warriors who
execute the plans, know only what they need to know to do their jobs.
And then
there’s the scenery: Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Ethiopia – all grand
backdrops for the fireworks. Look for one decent FBI agent (Nick Memphis, nicely
played by Michael Pena), the only guy in the whole movie who suspects foul play.
After
allusions to the Kennedy assassination, the war in Iraq, and corporate
malfeasance, an unpleasant message lingers. “Nothing, no matter how horrible,
happens without the approval of the government, here or there.” Suddenly we
realize the fiction we have been watching is talking about today. Always, there
is another corrupt man ready and eager to step into a vacancy at the highest
levels of power and money.
You will
endure much heavy on-screen breathing – none of it sexual, all of it the heavy
breath of fear. You can anticipate a grand finale and after it is over, you will
know that you were present when Mark Wahlberg nailed down the title of this
century’s first champion action hero.
Copyright (c) Illusion