Shooter

If you ever want to see what the difference between talent and lack of talent is, just look at Marky Mark and Vanilla Ice. At the beginning of the 90's both were world wide stars for being white rapper and when that light faded Vanilla Ice went to VH-1 and Marky Mark became an A-list actor. The path probably was not an easy one and he will always live by that Marky Mark moniker but here he is in 2007 starring in one seriously kick ass action film. The body count is high, the fires are big and bright and very few things on this planet seem to be as cool as Mark Wahlberg walking in slow motion with that confident swagger in his step. Wahlberg stars as a former army sniper with a wicked eye for snipering and an undying loyalty to the concept of the flag. The opening sequence shows us how good he is in combat and it proves to set up a movie that is perhaps the most perfectly titled movie, ever. Everything you need to know is in the title. he is a shooter and boy what a shooter he is. I have seen many movies featuring many awesome shooting scenes, but the one that takes place int he opening of this one are just as good as any of them


After that opening sequence we get a bit of a downside on the violence but a pretty good political/espionage thriller. We know their is a conspiracy theory afoot and we see it through the eyes of an F.B.I agent played by Michael Pena (Crash) as he tries to show that Wahlberg did not attempt to kill the president. The people behind the shooting and the framing are led by a delightfully devious Danny Glover and while we do not know who they are or what they do, we do know they can apply some serious hurt. Wahlberg spends a good bit of this film in pain from being shot and watching him, as an ex-army guy show tricks on how to stop bleeding and fix wounds is pretty cool. I have no idea if any of that stuff is possible, but I don't really care, but for the sake of the movie is was fun to watch. Hurt, he stumbles to a very beautiful Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain). She helps him get well and the movie avoids the usual sex subplot, which was good because it would have shown Wahlberg's character to be less than he is, not to say the sexual tension was not shown, they just didn't act upon it. After he feels healed Wahlberg goes back to work and we get to enjoy some serious brutality.


Wahlberg stabs 2 guys, chokes one one shoots about 4 dozen more and then eventually sets quite a few on fire with some sick napalm bombs. Watching guys flying back on fire in slow motion elicited some serious applause from the audience and made me cheer, as I have a habit of doing during movie violence. Wahlberg proves very much up to the task of being the leading action man, beyond the silly ape movie and Pena should grow into the character actor role very well. Rhona Mitra, the possessor of the sexiest voice ever, hides her sexy accent in a mostly pointless role in the F.B.I which made me sad, but when that is the biggest flaw in a movie, I think it is safe to say, the movie rocks. And that is what this movie does, it rocks. It moves fast and loud and it never gets old watching bullets pierce skulls. Also, one of the most gruesome things ever is to see blood against snow. WOW and not in that fake blood horror movie way, I mean it looks real and disgusting. There are also some good laughs to counteract the blaring testosterone. I also liked the ultimate end here. They went the dirty route, not the safe, pro government route.