The Movie:
Director Antoine Fuqua's Shooter, based on the novel Point Of Impact by Steven Hunter, is a tense and exciting action/suspense hybrid that proves Mark Wahlberg is fast becoming one of the best leading men in Hollywood.
Wahlberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, a former Marine now retired and living the quiet life out in the middle of nowhere. Swagger's past comes back to haunt him, however, when Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) pressures him into coming back into service as a sharpshooter to stop an attempt on the President's life. Before you know it, things have become rather twisted when prominent Bishop has been shot and Swagger has been set up to look like a murderer. As such, he goes on the lam until he can prove he is an innocent man and reveal the identity of the real killer.
While in hiding, Swagger hooks up with the wife of his later partner, a foxy girl named Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara) and he befriends a young F.B.I. agent named Nick Memphis (Michael Pena). These two believe Swagger to be innocent and as such, the agree to help him out but what they don't know is that there are government ops hot on his trail and a few other clandestine parties involved in trying to end his life before he can prove who the real murderer is. What Swagger doesn't realize is that this conspiracy links back to his past as a marksmen during his tour of duty in Ethiopia years back.
Clever and exciting, Shooter is a solid action film with a strong story that pulls you in and keeps you there. A few unexpected and subversive touches lend the plot some clever and surprising twists and because of this the movie builds nicely and plays well. Fuqua paces the film nicely so that it moves along at a good clip and while maybe the movie borrows a bit from other, older, action-conspiracy films at least it puts a somewhat fresh spin on the 'framed man must clear name' concept with a couple of interesting bits of political thinking and modern day relevancy. Obviously the inspiration for the very idea links back to the JFK assassination at least in theory, but the story has been tweaked in such a way that it fits the current political landscape of America quite nicely.
Central to the film's success are two key performances. Mark Wahlberg in the lead role brings a sense of realism to the part and really makes it is own. Playing things cool throughout he's got a bit of John Rambo in him (think First Blood and not the sequels) but also a bit of Richard Kimble too. He looks the part and his body language and mannerisms are convincing enough that he looks like he knows what he's doing and as such, we can completely buy him as a sniper. The other stand out performance in the film is from Danny Glover. Best known for playing Roger Murtaugh in the four Lethal Weapon films, here he plays the clandestine Colonel Isaac Johnson with a fair bit of sinister glee without going so far as to over act or feel out of place in the role. The supporting cast all do fine as well, but Glover and Wahlberg really stand out, and both deserve credit for their fine performances in the film.
When it's all said and done, Shooter isn't reinventing the wheel - in fact, parts of it feel very familiar - but it is certainly a well made, smart and entertaining film with some good performances and a couple of memorably tense set pieces.
The DVD
Video:
Paramount presents Shooter in it's original aspect ratio of 2.35.1, in full 1080p/AVC-Mpeg 4 encoding. A few scenes look just a little bit too dark so you might find yourself adjusting the brightness on your setup but aside from that there's really very little to complain about here. Color reproduction looks very good and while the black levels are a bit too low, at least they're consistent and they don't break up or pixelate at all. Fine detail looks great throughout the movie save for those aforementioned scenes where the shadows hide things a little bit, and flesh tones look lifelike and natural throughout aside from a couple of scenes where things look just a little bit too hot. Close-ups (of which there are plenty) reveal a lot of very fine detail particularly when faces and eyes are right up tight on the screen, while more distanced shots also look very good. Print damage is never an issue at all, although some filtering is obvious in a few scenes (this looks to be an artistic choice rather than a flaw with the transfer itself). No problems with edge enhancement or mpeg compression to complain about, and all in all, Shooter looks quite good on HD-DVD.
Sound:
Just as it is with the video quality on this release, the English language Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround Sound mix is a bit of a mix bad. Optional dubbed tracks are provided in French and Spanish in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mixes, and optional subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish with closed captioning provided for the feature only in English.
In terms of quality, things sound good even if Paramount has left a bit of room for improvement. Action scenes sound great with really solid use of the rear channels to envelope the viewer while the less action intensive scenes don't sound quite as robust. Background noise is very faint meaning that there isn't much in the way of ambient noise to pick out. This is likely due to the original sound design rather than the mix itself, but there are a few scenes in the film that are almost too quiet. That said, when the movie needs to deliver, it certainly does and the opening and closing scenes, highlights of the picture obviously, really sound quite good. Bass response is good, levels are properly balanced, and there are no problems at all with hiss or distortion.
Extras:
The extras on this HD-DVD are identical to those found on the Blu-Ray release and the standard definition DVD release, although they are presented in full 1080p on this disc which was a nice surprise.
Supplements start off with an audio commentary from director Antoine Fuqua who does a good job of staying on track explaining specifics about each scene as they play out. He talks about adapting the novel for the big screen, how Wahlberg came on board for the lead and how aspects of the source material were changed to suit modern day audiences. He talks about why certain scenes were handled the way they were and how a few key moments were orchestrated from a technical stand point. Fuqua proves to be quite knowledgeable and makes for an interesting commentator here, giving fans of the film every reason to check this track out as it really is quite good.
From there, check out the twenty two-minute Survival Of The Fittest featurette which gives us a really interesting look at the way military snipers are trained and how they operate and in turn how this methodology was incorporated into the film to give it a more realistic feel. Interviews and clips with Patrick Garrity, a gunnery sergeant who served as the military advisor on the film, show how the cast was trained while comments from Fuqua as well as the screenwriter and producer talk to how they were striving for realism in the film. More than just a basic making of featurette, this is actually very interesting stuff and it helps us to appreciate what went into a few key scenes just a little bit more.
A second, shorter featurette entitled Independence Hall, which clocks in at roughly eight minutes in length, explains how that very important scene was created. Some interesting clips and thoughts from key participants make this an interesting look at the most memorable moment in the film and we also get some interesting footage of the Philadelphia location where this scene was shot.
Rounding out the extra features are the film's original theatrical trailer and approximately eleven minutes worth of deleted scenes. There are seven scenes in total and while they don't add much to the film they do serve to fill in a bit of background on Memphis and Swagger and as such are worth taking a look at. Animated menus and chapter stops for the feature are also included.
Final Thoughts:
Shooter turns out to be a well made, well acted and tense action-thriller with a great performance from Wahlberg and some really memorable set pieces. Paramount's HD-DVD release looks and sounds quite good and the supplements are plentiful and genuinely interesting. Highly recommended.
Ian lives in NYC with his fiance where he writes for DVD Talk and for AV Maniacs. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.
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