There are a few things that you always need to have if you are going to make a decent American vigilante action movie. You must have a hero, filled to the brim with idealism and armed with a degree in kickin’ ass and taking names. You must also have at least one hot leading lady, and you earn bonus points for tastefully putting her in position to be half-naked through most of the film. And finally, without question there must exist plenty of gunfights and explosions to keep the audiences entertained in between the aforementioned partial nudity. These three elements never fail to give Average Joe Moviegoer his money’s worth, and it appears that director Antoine Fuqua has figured that out.
Fuqua’s latest directorial effort is Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg as Bob Lee Swaggert, an ex-Marine sniper who is jaded towards the government after losing his friend in a battle that should not have happened. Of course, like all heroes who lose their best buddy in the first scene, he retires from active duty to become a woodsman in a nondescript mountain range with his dog. His peace does not last long, as he is called upon by a shady Colonel (a very lispy Danny Glover) to foil a plot to shoot the President from over a mile away, a distance that Swaggert is more than capable of covering with his rifle. Of course, it turns out that the Colonel has lured Swaggert into a plot in which he gets framed for murder and is forced to go on the run. If it sounds cliché, that's because it is cliché. But just because a movie has a few clichés doesn’t mean it can’t be successful – remember those three must-haves.
One of the first must-haves that this film delivers with emphasis is the hot leading lady, courtesy of the recently over-exposed Kate Mara. She couldn’t pull off the cute, nerdy girl in Full of It, which released earlier this month, but she does do quite well as a down-home Kentucky girl who sits around the house in a white cotton t-shirt, sans bra. Her character fits into yet another cliché that can be overlooked – remember the buddy that our hero lost in the first scene? That is his widow. You do the math from there.
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