Movie Review: Shooter

Another movie review, 7 months after its theatrical release. (I rarely get out and have a Netflix account to keep up. So sue me.)

Well, it had some good parts. Lot of shooty, and action, and a decent pace. Espapist fantasy, but people (including me) LIKE escapist Fantasy. Standard shoot em-up where the hero makes few mistakes, treacherous outnumbers scenario after scenario, and no Murphy's Law interfering with his plans.

But there were flaws.

Ok, so Gunny Swagger (Mark Wahlberg's character) is supposed to be one of the top 5 snipers in the world. Perhaps #1. His first shot of the movie was to the head of a moving target traveling right to left at an oblique angle at 900 yards. Like I said, escapist fantasy. I had trouble suspending disbelief on that, and I think I would BEFORE I ever took up shooting.

Some other blogger noted when the movie first came out that he practiced with his sniper rifle right next to his dog. And while he had ear protection the poor hound did not. And the dog did not react. And it was a big rifle. Might not have been a .50, but it looked like the round were bigger than a .308. They'd have to be to make 2200 yard shots.

Some Canadian pulled off a longer than 2000 yard shot during WOT. But it took a few shots, walking it in, if I'm not mistaken. A lot hold-over. In other words they had to aim at a spot a few feet above the target to account for bullet drop. Presumably they maxed out the elevation adjustment on their scope. It's just very difficult.

But I do like Mark Wahlberg's performance. I won't let the details beyond his control in a movie color my opinion of him.

And the socialist back drop that colored the subtext of everything in the movie was irksome. You see more of it in the deleted scenes in the special features of the DVD. An FBI rookie is being hung out to dry and when he realizes this he dons a Che Guevera t-shirt? Right. The old school Senator played by Ned Beatty thinks the way the world works is a zero-sum game, economically. Oh and Blackwater is the bad guy. Or a cell that acts like Blackwater. In the world of the director, Antoine Fuqua, there are implications that there are several rogue Blackwater style contractors, controlled by some man of power separate from the others. Well, Mr. Fuqua, you can go Fuqua yourself. Everything is a conspiracy, usually by reactionary paleoconservative types, motivated by power and money. Nothing is as it seems. That theme is everywhere in modern entertainment and it is getting kinda old.

Just like Jericho... EVIL DoD contract... I mean MERCENARIES! Booo! Mercenaries! Yeah, yeah. Those people that boo Contractors wouldn't like the alternative much worse, but they never consider that.

Heh, can anyone point to the latest LEFTIST conspiracy movie out there? Seriously. I wanna watch something different. Unusual.