Movie Review for Shooter

Summary: Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), a former Marine Corps sniper who leaves the military after a mission goes bad. After he is reluctantly pressed back into service, Swagger is double-crossed again. With two bullets in him and the subject of a nationwide manhunt, Swagger begins his revenge, which will take down the most powerful people in the country.

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Kevin Carr of 7M Pictures (8/0)
            It's not a movie to think too deeply about... It's better to just get the big tub of popcorn, the...

By Rebecca Murray of About.com (8/0)
            Don't go in with high expectations for a coherent story and you'll be fine.

By Brian Webster of Apollo Guide (7/0)
            The only way to watch it without considering it unbearably ridiculous or morally revolting is to ...

By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (8/0)
            Swagger, after all, has undergone the most intensive training known to man: He's watched "First B...

By Christy Lemire of Associated Press (8/0)
            Then come the plot holes, the cartoonish performances (especially from Ned Beatty as a crudely dr...

By Bob Thomas of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/0)
            Mark Wahlberg will only get props for balancing out the utter implausibility of [Antoine] Fuqua's...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Bob Townsend of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (8/0)
            An improbable, paranoid action picture, made slightly better by Mark Wahlberg's moody take on the...

By Lori Hoffman of Atlantic City Weekly (8/0)
            Mark Wahlberg is an effective weapon of mass destruction as an ex-marine set up to take the fall ...

By Marrit Ingman of Austin Chronicle (8/0)
            Less subversive and infinitely less intelligent than 1999’s Wahlberg-starrer Three Kings.

By Ty Burr of Boston Globe (8/0)
            The film moves at a clip and smartly alternates mayhem and drama.

By Fred Topel of Can Magazine (8/0)
            They don't make movies like this anymore. I mean, seriously, they don't make movies where someone...

By Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune (8/0)
            Its ideal audience is that of longtime Soldier of Fortune subscribers who may not renew because t...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (8/0)
            A last act climactic cleanup is what's calling forth the boos and hisses that aren't altogether f...

By Scott Weinberg of Cinematical (8/0)
            A perfectly watchable time-killer that delivers on its promises but also kind of wears out its we...

By Cole Smithey of ColeSmithey.com (8/0)
            The picture molders under the predictable fiery explosions that fill the screen while any pretens...

By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (8/0)
            A sharp political action-thriller that's far from perfect, but Mark Wahlberg's Bob Lee Swagger is...

By Alex Markerson of E! Online (8/0)
            It definitely has its moments, but Shooter is a near miss.

By Peter Sobczynski of eFilmCritic.com (8/0)
            Shooter is the very epitome of the kind of instantly disposable film that has become all too comm...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.Com (8/0)
            This old-fashioned revenge actioner suffers from a prepsoterous plot and lack of logic and credib...

By Vince Koehler of Entertainment Spectrum (8/0)
            This movie has a wide variation of action, suspense and thrills. Not to mention some of the best ...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (8/0)
            Once the conspiracy is revealed, there's still 90 minutes of manhunt to go, with Wahlberg, in bla...

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (8/0)
            It has just enough straight-faced bravado that you can sort of buy it, the same way you swallow t...

By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (8/0)
            You do wish somewhere along the way that "nuance" were as effective as all those dead patriots.

By Lewis Beale of Film Journal International (8/0)
            It accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do--entertain while playing to everyone's most basic ...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Sean O'Connell of filmcritic.com (8/0)
            Sadly, screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin...runs (Stephen) Hunter's complicated novel through a grinder...

By Sean O'Connell of filmcritic.com (8/0)
            The thinly veiled political rant hits all cylinders whenever its crosshairs land in action mode

By Victoria Alexander of FilmsInReview.com (8/0)
            Some old dude steals the movie by saying, “I still have the shovel.”

By Brent Simon of FilmStew.com (8/0)
            Wahlberg's hard-charging heart and rugged determination capture the essence of strong-and-silent-...

By Bill Clark of FromTheBalcony (8/0)
            Is it preposterous? You bet. Will the politics piss off a good number of people? Most definitely....

By Michael W. Phillips, Jr. of Goatdog's Movies (8/0)
            It's the execution that matters, and for the most part ... the formula is executed well.

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter (8/0)
            Above-average action with thinly sketched characters.

By Stax of IGN Movies (7/0)
            Despite its slew of genre cliches, Shooter works in fits and starts as a valentine to a simpler e...

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (8/0)
            A predictable and preposterous picture with more plot holes than Bonnie-and-Clyde's machine gun r...

By Kevin Williamson of Jam! Movies (8/0)
            Director Antoine Fuqua chooses to numb, rather than engage.

By Andrea Chase of Killer Movie Reviews (8/0)
            RAMBO with less pomposity and better acting. Mostly.

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (8/0)
            The acting is solid throughout, which helps the film over the rather large plot holes.

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Bob Strauss of Los Angeles Daily News (8/0)
            Shooter knows what it's aiming for and is consistently, satisfyingly on-target.

By Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times (8/0)
            Shooter is executed with such efficiency and energy by action maestro Antoine Fuqua that ignoring...

By Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies (8/0)
            An immature, angry polemic against military brass, the government, and politicians that is so sim...

By Pete Hammond of Maxim (8/0)
            At its heart, this 'Shooter' just doesn't have the amunition to make us care.

By Matt Pais of Metromix.com (8/0)
            Shooter ain't Shakespeare, but on a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing else to do, you'll be glad...

By Graham Killeen of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/0)
            It's not that the movie's terribly bad; it's more that nothing in it is really that good.

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (8/0)
            For a movie that the creators want to think of as a 'thinking man's' actioner, very little though...

By Frank Ochieng of Movie Eye (8/0)
            Creatively, this Shooter ends up firing blanks in its patchy profile of skepticism involving big ...

By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (7/0)
            Not as much a misfire as a little off the mark.

By Kurt Loder of MTV (8/0)
            The movie feels like a prelude; and since Swagger is also the protagonist of two other Hunter nov...

By Kyle Smith of New York Post (8/0)
            ...mostly it's content to deliver Salisbury steak-and-mashed-potatoes action...

By Manohla Dargis of New York Times (8/0)
            ...a thoroughly reprehensible, satisfyingly violent entertainment about men and guns and things t...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Gene Seymour of Newsday (8/0)
            Shooter eventually gets in its own way by hitting things too hard, too loud and too long.

By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (8/0)
            Usually conspiracy thrillers don't work. And few fail on as many levels as Shooter.


By Brian Orndorf of OhmyNews.com (7/1)
            Even if the film stumbles, it has just enough goofball lust to keep it entertaining, especially w...

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (8/0)
            A feel-good celebration of political vigilantism...As a piece of empty-headed action entertainmen...

By Scott Tobias of Onion AV Club (8/0)
            As the body count increases, the kills become so gratuitous that the effect is numbing, like watc...

By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (8/0)
            It features a gritty, macho performance by Mark Wahlberg, stinging political commentary and more ...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By John Thomason of Orlando Weekly (8/0)
            Shooter wants to be the Manchurian Candidate of today. But it adheres more to the formula of a fo...

By Fiore Mastracci of Outtakes With Fiore (8/0)
            I'm tired of going to movies only to hear how terrible America is and how the evils of the world ...

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (8/0)
            The bad guys are bad and the guns are smokin' hot, hey, that's why they call it a thriller!

By Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly (8/0)
            The character's laughable name be damned, Wahlberg's a smart enough actor not to swagger through ...

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (8/0)
            How (could) someone as drab and monotone and Wahlberg could have ever been nominated for an Oscar...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (8/0)
            This notion that villains might be identified and "dealt with" is rather quaint.

                         Reviews of Shooter
By James Kendrick of Q Network Film Desk (8/0)
            purports to question the way in which the military can take over the political process, but its a...

By David N. Butterworth of rec.arts.movies.reviews (8/0)
            Marky Marksman...

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (8/0)
            It's not often that one complains of an action movie not being mindless enough, but that's precis...

By Gary Goldstein of Reel.com (7/0)
            [Writer Jonathan Lemkin] never streamlined the plot enough to make this the fully accessible 'pop...

By Gary Goldstein of Reel.com (8/0)
            All in, Shooter doesn't entirely shoot blanks, but it misses the bull's eye by a mile.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (8/0)
            a mash-up of "First Blood" and 2007's "24" White House rot intrigue that all feels vaguely like l...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Betty Jo Tucker of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/1)
            While not boasting a very original plot, 'Shooter' provides a showcase for Mark Wahlberg's versa...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (8/0)
            The film takes the cynic's view of the U.S. political power structure and paints an identifiable ...

By Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (8/0)
            As smart action films go, Shooter generally hits its target.

By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (8/0)
            Props to Mark Wahlberg, an actor whose fierce gaze and sneaky humor can carry a movie over the ro...

By Carla Meyer of Sacramento Bee (8/0)
            Without Wahlberg's rock-solid presence as a former Marine sniper turned hunted man, the mediocrit...

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (8/0)
            Shooter is far more complicated than it needs to be, taking more crazy twists and turns than it s...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Larry Ratliff of San Antonio Express-News (8/0)
            This is a solid edge-of-your-seat thriller that smacks of political intrigue.

By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (8/0)
            As Bob Lee Swagger, marksman, sniper, death dealer, Wahlberg in Shooter has his most physically p...

By Peter Hartlaub of San Francisco Chronicle (8/0)
            Starts out OK, but then almost seems to be intentionally going for humor.

By William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (8/0)
            ...the whole thing is so stupid that it's not much fun.

By Moira MacDonald of Seattle Times (8/0)
            [A] competent if uninspired action thriller.

By Nick Schager of Slant Magazine (8/0)
            Oh, no they didn't!

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Dana Stevens of Slate (8/0)
            Though much of the action in Shooter is beautifully photographed, the movie's force is as a blunt...

By Phoebe Flowers of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (8/0)
            Shooter is a well-timed reminder that cinematic violence can qualify as something other than mind...

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (8/0)
            Yet another movie selling violence and revenge as the answer to our political problems.

By Nick Rogers of State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) (8/0)
            It has one triple-super sudden-death revenge overtime too many. But inhale this meaty, juicy thri...

By Angela Baldassarre of Sympatico.ca (8/0)
            The script defies narrative logic, is implausible, lacks real characters and has more holes than ...

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (8/0)
            As a formidable A-list action pic, the film is an unexciting throwaway. As an R-rated exploitatio...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By David Fear of Time Out New York (8/0)
            Ballistic fetishists and anticorporate activists will find common ground in each violent act agai...

By Eric Lurio of Times Square (8/0)
            Halfway decent script, good acting, good chases and stuff gets blown up. What more do you want? G...

By Tony Medley of tonymedley.com (8/0)
            Without the silly politics, this is a slam-bang, nonstop man-on-the-run conspiracy thriller with ...

By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (8/0)
            A sleek, taut entertainment spiked with timely political bile.

By Brian Tallerico of UnderGround Online (8/0)
            Shooter doesn't try to be anything but a simple piece of pure action escapism and, on that level,...

By Urban Cinefile Critics of Urban Cinefile (8/0)
            A exhilarating, big budget action thriller about corruption, betrayal and integrity.. Director An...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Claudia Puig of USA Today (8/0)
            ...heavier on style than substance.

By Matthew Turner of ViewLondon (8/0)
            There are plenty of things wrong with Shooter but the quantity and indeed the quality of the expl...

By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (8/0)
            A thrilling action movie because director Antoine Fuqua knows how to blow stuff up and Marky Mark...

By Daniel M. Kimmel of Worcester Telegram & Gazette (8/0)
            ...a great popcorn movie. It won't make you think, but it won't insult your intelligence either.

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (4/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            The movie's called Shooter, not Tea Cozy, so it's no surprise it's a man's man's man's movie. And...

By Greg Maki of Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) (4/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            ... Falls victim to lazy filmmakers ...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Annlee Ellingson of Boxoffice Magazine (4/4) No reference
            On the heels of a surprise Oscar nomination for his role as a cop with a bad attitude in Martin S...

By Bill Zwecker of Chicago Sun-Times (7/1) No reference
            ...while it's fast-paced and often something of a nail-biter, Shooter doesn't really pay off,...

By Pablo Villaca of Cinema em Cena (7/1) No reference
            Esquemático do início ao fim, parece desconhecer o conceito de sutileza; um problema que, ao ser ...

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (3/5) No reference
            Comparisons to Sylvester Stallone's equally ill-treated combat vet from two decades ago are paper...

By Michelle Alexandria of Eclipse Magazine (7/1) No reference
            I could never get past the idea that this film is a blatant rip-off of another bad movie, only "M...

By James Sanford of Kalamazoo Gazette (7/1) No reference
            the perfect movie for guys who still daydream about re-enacting 'Combat' and 'The A-Team' episode...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Robert Folsom of Kansas City Star (3/5) No reference
            The movie’s big conspiracy is only a peg on which to hang the suspenseful action. Toss in beautif...

By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (7/1) No reference
            He has to walk toward us in slo-mo? And the bad guys have to cackle over their total domination a...

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (3/5) No reference
            It's best to turn your brain off, half an hour in.

By Shawn Levy of Oregonian (7/1) No reference
            It whips from tense to flat-out ridiculous and leaves you feeling dumb for having once cared abou...

By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (7/1) No reference
            It feels fat at more than two hours, and it's much less efficient than movies covering similar gr...

By Steven Rea of Philadelphia Inquirer (3/5) No reference
            A chase movie and a pretty crafty thriller, Shooter owes a lot to Sydney Pollack's Three Days of ...

                         Reviews of Shooter
By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (7/1) Not Reachable
            An intermittently preposterous, drawn-out but sometimes entertaining story about an unstoppable e...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/1) Not Reachable
            The thinking person's 'Rambo'--depending on the thinking person's IQ--but gorgeous British Columb...

By Peter Debruge of Miami Herald (7/1) Not Reachable
            The movie's politics may miss their mark, but its thrills are dead-on.

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/1) Not Reachable
            The story is basically predictable, so you have to judge this film on how good the action is... a...

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Paramount Pictures