Shooter - Review

Got to see this movie from Blockbuster over the weekend - was more or less like a Vijayakanth movie - but with some sophistication.

The Plotline:

Mr. Wahlberg is a retired sniper who is a sort of a legend in sniping out victims. He was 'wronged' by the CIA in an covert operation in Ethiopia, which ended up with his best friend dying (Sounds familiar?). So Mr. Sniper (he is called Robert Lee Swagger) decides to quit and takes up a god forsaken cabin in the equally god forsaken state of Wyoming with his pet dog. Suddenly CIA decides that Mr. Sniper is needed to plan an assassination attempt on Mr. American President so that they can get an idea as to how a possible attempt on the president could be made (by some terrorists, who have somehow gotten the secret codes used by the President). So Mr. Sniper goes and in a matter of a few cut shots, he comes up with a plan which COULD kill the president. Next scene shows Mr. President and some Peace Keeper from Ethiopia and now is where the director decides to put in a corny twist and now Mr. Sniper is on the run from the law - the charge? He tried to assassinate Mr. Prez. Mr. Sniper somehow gets a rundown van to work and drives all the way from Philly to some obscure place in Kentucky where the girl friend of the best friend who died at the start lives. Mr. Sniper manages to recuperate there (oh! If you thought Captain giving 'shock' to 'current' in Narasimha to be bad, here Mr. Sniper gives himself an IV using a radiator hose and some powdered sugar from the local grocery shop and drives a car for some 700 miles with two bullets lodged in him). Rest of the movie about how Mr. Sniper learns the 'truth' (with lots of avenge the hapless souls funda) and gets back at those who framed him.

Comments:
1. Never expected Wahlberg to star in this! I really liked him in The Departed for which he was nominated for the Oscar.
2. The action sequences involve only one thing - Rain or shine, Mr. Sniper snipes everybody from 2 miles afar. So nobody really has a chance to get at Mr. Sniper.
3. Surprisingly devoid of any romance at all - the only place where the director keeps us guessing - we wait for Mr. Sniper and Ms. Dead Friend's girl friend to smooch, but that never happens.


Last Say:
Watch this if you really are bored and can't sleep. Even unintentional comedies (of the Vijayakanth stopping bullet with archanai thattu kinds) can't save this one.