Shooter (I) (2007)

A marksman living in exile is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he goes on the run to track the real killer and find out who exactly set him up, and why.

Director:

Antoine Fuqua

Writers:

Jonathan Lemkin (screenplay), Stephen Hunter (novel)

Stars:

Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña, Danny Glover

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Wahlberg	...	Bob Lee Swagger
Michael Peña	...	Nick Memphis
Danny Glover	...	Colonel Isaac Johnson
Kate Mara	...	Sarah Fenn
Elias Koteas	...	Jack Payne
Rhona Mitra	...	Alourdes Galindo
Jonathan Walker	...	Louis Dobbler
Louis Ferreira	...	Howard Purnell (as Justin Louis)
Tate Donovan	...	Russ Turner
Rade Serbedzija	...	Michael Sandor (as Rade Sherbedgia)
Alan C. Peterson	...	Officer Stanley Timmons
Ned Beatty	...	Senator Charles F. Meachum
Lane Garrison	...	Donnie Fenn
Zak Santiago	...	Senior Agent
Michael-Ann Connor	...	Junior Agent

Storyline

Bob Lee Swagger, one of the world's great marksmen and the son of a Congressional Medal of Honoree, is a loner living in the Rockies. He's left the military, having been hung out to dry in a secret Ethiopian mission a few years before, when he's recruited by a lisping colonel to help find a way that the President of the US might be assassinated in one of three cities in the next two weeks. He does his work, but the shot is fired notwithstanding and Bob Lee is quickly the fall guy: wounded and hunted by thousands, he goes to ground and, aided by two unlikely allies, searches for the truth and for those who double-crossed him. All roads lead back to Ethiopia.

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Plot Keywords:

president | marksman | colonel | framed | car chase | 

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Taglines:

Yesterday was about honor. Today is about justice.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [Spain] Paramount [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 March 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tirador

Filming Locations:

Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$61,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£716,202 (UK) (13 April 2007)

Gross:

$46,975,183 (USA) (8 June 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Grosvenor Park Impact Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Singer Eminem turned down the villain role.

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Goofs

When the Crown Vic is backed into the river, various camera angles show a very flat topography which is consistent with Philadelphia. After the car is in the river, the first shot back toward the bridge clearly shows tall mountains in the background. No such mountains exist near Philadelphia.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Donnie Fenn: Movement. Two men. Approximately... forty goats.
Bob Lee Swagger: They're not on anybody's side. We don't have to shoot them.

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Connections

References Invincible (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Nasty Letter"
Written and Performed by Otis Taylor
Courtesy of Telarc International Corporation
By Arrangement with Music for the Masses

User Reviews

Very good at illustrating the systemic aspects of Imperialism

I was quite skeptical at watching the film, and didn't even get around to watching it until just last night(5/13/08), well over a year after it came out. What I saw was a pretty good political analysis as to what the major cover ups are and the cause of this Imperialist oil war.

Yes, they do sprinkle a big ole plop of conspiracy theory, notably burying the snipers who did JFK in the desert. The line, "I still have the shovel" was quite amusing. Yes, the protagonist is a superman with the penchant for arriving in the nick of time and the ability to kill everyone. Chuck Norris isn't as bad as this guy.

What I found to be impressive though was that the movie placed the blame on a consortium of haves. It did not narrowly define exactly who the enemy is, so much as allow for a broader condemnation of capitalism and imperialism. The FBI agent sympathetic to the hero even goes so far as to wear a Che t-shirt.

So, when the aptly named Swagger tells Sarah Fenn, his buddies ex-wife, that the reason he took on the mission was because he fell for patriotism, we are given a quick condemnation of the flag waving jingoism that the US is trying to use to recruit young people for their imperialist wars. The WMD's are brought up, and are quite resonant in the context of a system without morality and only haves and have-nots.

I was impressed with the film.