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Not only does the movie basically dissect our American government, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time with amazing action sequences.  The flick is actually based on the book “Point of Impact” by Stephen Hunter.  You may know Stephen Hunter because he does movie reviews for The Washington Post.  The book was obviously made into a movie with a different title and is directed by my boy Antoine Foqua.  Foqua is the director responsible for Training Day, which was such an amazing film.  Denzel Washington definitely deserved the Oscar for that.  Shooter also stars Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Saw) and Michael Pena (Crash, World Trade Center). 

The Plot: Shooter has a pretty amazing plot.  Bob Lee Swagger, or should I call him Bob Lee Dagger, gets himself into one of the worst situations I have ever seen.  This guy was an ex-marine who, after losing his best friend in battle, retired and bought some land where he lived peacefully.  The government seeks Swagger out because of his expertise as a Sniper.  Swagger is considered the “Best of the Best.” 

Danny Glover, plays one of the government officials who goes to Swagger asking for help in stopping an assassination attempt on the President.  They need Swagger to think like the sniper who has put the threat on the president and scope him out before he does it.  When the day comes for the President to speak in Philadelphia, the shot is fired and it ends up killing an African Arch Bishop. 

What Swagger did not know was the Government was setting him up to look like the person who took the shot on the President.  Right after the shot is taken, they shoot Swagger twice but he still manages to escape.  The rest of the movie is Swagger trying to outrun the government and find some way to tell the truth about the set-up.  He gets help from Michael Pena, who plays an F.B.I. agent in the film. 

The Review: Overall, this movie is extremely action packed and will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time.  What I really liked about it, besides all the action, was how it basically slapped our Government in the face.  You can tell this film was written by somebody who hates George W. Bush.  The whole movie slams how crooked our government is and how we do everything for money.  On top of all that, you get some really cool dialogue about how snipers make their shots and all the things that go into preparing for that shot. 

Whalberg definitely plays one heck of a part.  The scenes of him trying to stop the bleeding on the bullet wounds are insane.  All the scenes that involve using a sniper rifle are completely bad-ass.  The camera takes you into the view of the scope and you get to see people’s heads getting blasted.  So you take all of that and a pretty cool story line; you will have a very good movie. 

The only problem the movie suffers from is how over-the-top it became at times.  It was definitely a little bit cheesy, but I really liked how they made jokes out of some of the cheesy moments.  There is a scene where Swagger seriously says he is doing all of this killing because they killed his dog.  You will see exactly what I mean when you see it. 

The Verdict: Is it a PHENOMENAL movie?  No, but it is a really fun action flick.  I haven’t seen a good action movie in a long time, until Shooter.  I give the flick 4.5 BDK’s because I think it should definitely be seen in theatres.  You can either catch the matinee or see it right now, hence the 4.5 BDK rating.