Shooter (2007 film)

Shooter
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Screenplay by Jonathan Lemkin[1]
Based on Point of Impact
by Stephen Hunter
Starring
Music by Mark Mancina
Cinematography Peter Menzies Jr.
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • March 23, 2007 (2007-03-23) (United States)
Running time
 125 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $61 million[2]
Box office $95.7 million[2]

Shooter is a 2007 American conspiracy action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua[3] based on the novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter.[4] The film follows Force Recon veteran Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), who is framed for murder by a rogue secret private military company unit. The film also stars Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Levon Helm, and Ned Beatty[3] and was released in the United States on March 23, 2007.

Plot

Bob Lee Swagger reluctantly leaves a self-imposed exile at the request of Colonel Isaac Johnson, who appeals to him to help track down an assassin that is planning to shoot the president. Johnson gives him a list of three cities where the President is scheduled to visit, and Swagger assesses a site in Philadelphia as the most likely. This turns out to be a set-up; while Swagger is working with Johnson's agents to find the rumored assassin, the Ethiopian archbishop is shot instead while standing next to the president. Swagger is then shot by a police officer but manages to escape. The agents tell the police that Swagger is the shooter, and a manhunt ensues. He encounters a rookie FBI special agent, Nick Memphis, disarms him, and steals his car.

After his escape, Swagger takes refuge with Sarah Fenn, widow of his late spotter and close friend, killed years before in a mission in Africa. He later convinces her to help him contact Memphis with information on the conspiracy. Memphis is blamed for Swagger's escape and is informed that he will face disciplinary review but argues that, given Swagger's training and experience, it is surprising that the president survived and the archbishop standing several feet away was killed. He independently learns that Swagger may have been framed for the assassination and is further made suspicious when he learns that the officer that shot Swagger was himself shot dead just hours later in a mugging.

When the agents realize their secret is compromised, they kidnap Memphis and attempt to stage his suicide. Swagger tails them and kills the captors. The two then join forces and visit a firearms expert who provides information on the FBI's ballistics report and a short list of people capable of taking a shot from a distance of one mile or more. Armed with this, they plot to capture the ex-sniper who they think is the real assassin. Once they find him, he commits suicide after revealing that the archbishop was actually the real target and was murdered to prevent him revealing U.S. involvement in the massacre of an Eritrean village. The massacre was carried out on behalf of a consortium of American corporate oil interests headed by corrupt Senator Charles Meachum. Swagger records the ex-sniper's confession of his involvement in the African massacre and then, with Memphis' assistance, escapes from an ambush by mercenaries.

Meanwhile, other rogue mercenaries have kidnapped Sarah to lure Swagger out of hiding. With his new evidence and cat and mouse strategy, Swagger and Memphis are able to rescue her when Colonel Johnson and Senator Meachum arrange a meeting to exchange their hostage for the evidence of their wrongdoing. The Senator is allowed to escape, while Swagger and Memphis surrender to the FBI.

Later, Swagger is brought before U.S. Attorney General Russert and the FBI director in a closed-door meeting with Colonel Johnson, Memphis, and Sarah also present. Swagger quickly clears his name by loading a round into his rifle (which is there as evidence since it was supposedly used in the killing), aims it at the Colonel and pulls the trigger—which fails to fire. Swagger explains that every time he leaves his house, he removes the firing pins from all his guns, replacing them with slightly shorter ones, thus rendering them inoperable until he returns. Although Swagger is exonerated, Colonel Johnson cannot be charged with his crime as the Eritrean massacre was outside American legal jurisdiction. The attorney general tells Swagger that he himself must abide by the law: "It's not the Wild West where you can clean up the streets with a gun, even though sometimes that's exactly what's needed." Russert then orders Swagger released and exonerates him of all charges.

Afterwards, as Johnson and Senator Meachum plan their next move, Swagger breaks in and kills both conspirators, arranging for the house to blow up as if by accident. In a final scene, he drives away with Sarah.

Cast

Mark Wahlberg at the London premiere for Shooter

Production

Weapons and tactics

Shooter depicts a number of sniper tactics, thanks to the guidance of former U.S. Marine scout sniper Patrick Garrity, who trained Mark Wahlberg for the film. Garrity taught Wahlberg to shoot both left- and right-handed (the actor is left-handed), as he had to switch shooting posture throughout the movie, due to Swagger's sustained injuries. He was also trained to adjust a weapon's scope, judge effects of wind on a shot, do rapid bolt manipulation and develop special breathing skills. His training included extreme distance shooting (up to 1,100 yards/1,006 m), and the use of camouflage ghillie suits. Fuqua appointed Garrity as the film's military technical advisor.[5]

In the special features of the DVD, Garrity is interviewed pointing out that the shot fired in the assassination would not have hit the archbishop straight on, as in the film. When a round is fired it will fall from 30–40 feet (9.1–12.2 m) depending on the distance of the shot. To compensate, the round is fired at an arc calibrated by how far the round is going to fall, the distance of the shot, temperature, humidity and wind. In his interview Garrity said "At 1,800 yards (1,646 m), because of the hydrostatic shock that follows a large-caliber, high-velocity round such as the .408 Chey Tac (which is used in the shot), the target would literally be peeled apart and limbs would be flying 200 feet (61 m) away." The exit wound on the archbishop's head would have been too extreme to show in movie theaters. Instead, the movie depicts a much less graphic representation of the assassination.

Throughout the film, Swagger uses an array of sniper rifles, among which are the USMC M40A3,[6] the CheyTac Intervention,[7] and the Barrett M82. Donnie Fenn used an M4A1 with a Cobray 37mm Launcher (commonly used by TV and movie armorers as a stand-in for the M203 grenade launcher) and M68 Close Combat Optic in the African opening sequences. A pair of Remington 700Ps were bought by Swagger and Memphis while on the run. Other weapons used by Swagger include a Beretta M9 and a commandeered M4A1 with an Aimpoint Sight, in the fight against the 24 mercenaries and a Colt M1911-A1 and a suppressed M4A1 in the final scene. Fenn's old .22 rifle that Swagger used on the lake scene is a Cooey model 60.

Music

The score to the film was composed by Mark Mancina, who recorded the music at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage in Studio City, Los Angeles, using a 77-piece orchestra conducted by Don Harper.[8][9] A score soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records on March 27, 2007. The song "Nasty Letter" by Otis Taylor plays over the end of the film and credits.

Release

Box office

Shooter grossed $47 million in the U.S. and Canada and $48.7 million in other territories, for a total gross of $95.7 million against its $61 million budget.[10]

The film grossed $14.5 million in its opening weekend, finishing in 3rd at the box office behind TMNT ($24.3 million) and 300 ($19.9 million).

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 48% approval rating based on 147 reviews; the average rating is 5.6/10. The site's consensus reads, "With an implausible story and numerous plot holes, Shooter fails to distinguish itself from other mindless action-thrillers."[11] Metacritic assigns the film a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12]

Empire magazine praised the movie: "The sequel-ready Swagger challenges Bourne's supremacy with an impressive shoot-'em-up, work-it-out action drama".[13]

Some film critics saw the film as definitely left-leaning in its politics, including arguing that the main villain (Senator Meachum) is an analogy for then Vice President Dick Cheney.[14][15][16]

Home media

The DVD was released on June 26, 2007, reaching the top of the US sales charts.[17]

TV show

In 2016, USA Network picked up a series of the same name based on the movie, with Wahlberg as a producer and Ryan Phillippe as Swagger.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fernandez, Jay A. (March 21, 2007). "A keen eye, and a dead-on aim". latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Shooter (2007)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  3. 1 2 "Shooter 2007". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ Hunter, Stephen (1993). Point of Impact (1st ed.). New York City: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0553071399.
  5. ↑ "Shooter (2007) - Wahlberg Goes To Sniper School: About Training As A Shooter". VisualHollywood.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  6. ↑ Rogers, Troy. "Patrick Garrity, Shooter Interview". UGO.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-22. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  7. ↑ Winkelspecht, Dean (2007-07-31). "Blu-ray review of 'Shooter'". DVDTown.com. Archived from the original on 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  8. ↑ Goldwasser, Dan (2007-03-15). "Mark Mancina scores 'Shooter'". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  9. ↑ "Scoring Session Photo Gallery". Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  10. ↑ "Shooter (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Shooter". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
  12. ↑ "Shooter Reviews, Ratings, Credits". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  13. ↑ Horkins, Tony. "Shooter". Empire. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  14. ↑ Denby, David (2007-04-02). "Men Gone Wild: 'Shooter' and '300'". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  15. ↑ Zengotita, Thomas de (2007-04-09). "Must See Movie: 'Shooter'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  16. ↑ Russell, Jamie (2007-04-13). "Shooter (2007)". BBC.co.uk.
  17. ↑ Telsch, Rafe (2007-07-05). "DVD Sales: Shooter Knocks Out Competition". CinemaBlend.com. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  18. ↑ Prudom, Laura. "'Shooter' Gets Series Pickup at USA Network". Variety.com. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
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