A hybrid of gimmicky revenge fantasy and spurious political satire, “The Shooter” finds former Army sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) disrupted from a secluded life in the Montana mountains.
Our action hero du jour is called upon by the government to stop an assassination attempt on the President.
Such an exciting, yawn, premise.
Threat of a long-range sniper attack during a public address causes Swagger to deduce that Philadelphia is the location for the hit.
But Bob doesn’t know that he has been set up to take the fall for the assassination of an African diplomat.
Wounded, Bob goes on the lamb to a plan and execute a convoluted trap for the corrupt congressman and CIA agents that planned the whole ugly affair.
“Shooter” molders under the predictable fiery explosions that fill the screen while any pretense of believability remains extinct.
Rated R. 124 mins.
