Shooter: Difference between revisions

[[File:Shooter_Movie_2007.jpg|frame]]

 

 

Yet because he is the best at what he does, he is recruited by the government to help track down a potential sniper, only to become the scapegoat as part of a [[Government Conspiracy]]. Swagger goes on the run but knows he has to fight back, recruiting rookie FBI agent Nick Memphis to investigate. What they find reveals new details about the mission where Bob was trapped behind enemy lines.

 

Shooter enjoyed moderate box office success and some critical acclaim. In its genre, it is a conspiracy thriller, and rides on the paranoia of the [[George W. Bush|Bush years]]. It also owes a lot to ''[[The Bourne Series (film)|The Bourne Series]]'' (including the general resemblance between Wahlberg and [[Matt Damon]]), although the sniper angle and being rated R works in seperating itself from other [[Follow the Leader]] types.

* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: If you're gonna cross modern political thriller with an 80s style action movie, you need cool names. Thankfully, Bob Lee Swagger fits the bill. Hell, even the sidekick has one: Nick Memphis. In fact, you can tell Nick's going to be significant because he's the only person in the film with a name even half as cool as Swagger.

** In a later book, Stephen Hunter thanks the man he named Earl and Bob Lee Swagger after.

* [[Artistic License Gun Safety]]: Signficantly averted, as Swagger's religious care of his own rifle is a major plot point later in the film. At least two examples of this become significant plot points; see [[Chekhov's Gun]].

* [[BFG]]: Bob's Cheyenne Tactical M200 Intervention {{spoiler|which he supposedly used to try assassinate the president, and hit the Ethiopian archbishop.}} Even bigger is the Barrett .50 cal he uses against the helicopter in the opening scene.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Well, Chekhov's {{spoiler|firing pin anyway. We see Bob doing something to his rifle just before he leaves for the mission. It turns out to be extremely important.}}

** Another example is when Swagger and the government team are in place, preparing to apprehend the alleged assassin. {{spoiler|Swagger notices the cop in the room has his service pistol unsecured and points it out.}}

* [[Clear My Name]]

* [[Colonel Badass]]: Colonel (retired) Johnson. His role in the movie is more of a [[Smug Snake]] / [[Corrupt Bureaucrat]], but at the beginning he shows Swagger a Medal of Honor. This is the highest medal a US military member can receive, requires an act of Congress to issue, and it's very often awarded posthumously.

* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]: Though he knows they're more than just theories.

*** They were authority figures who supported illegal and highly murderous ends in a supposed attempt to make a better world, {{spoiler|so it is nicely ironic that they become fair game themselves. That's why Swagger says what he says before shooting the congressmen. If the lawmen himself becomes the vigilante...}}

* [[The Government]]: Evil as usual.

* [[Gunman with Three Names]]: Bob Lee Swagger. Lee may be a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald. Swagger to military joke; bullet trajectory calculations are sometimes called "SWAG" -- Sophisticated Wild-Ass Guess

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: [[Lethal Weapon|Murtagh]] and [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|Casey Jones]] are your resident baddies for the film.

** [[Snatch|Boris the Blade]] engineered the assassination. Good thing he can dodge bullets.

* [[Spotting the Thread]]: Nick Memphis is tipped off that something isn't quite right when the government investigation {{spoiler|into the Ethiopian Arch-Bishop}} is ''too efficient''. To be exact, despite the scene of the shooting still being locked down twelve minutes after the shooting - with FBI helicopters '''yet to begin pursuit''', the ballistics report arrives just ten minutes later.

{{quote|'''Nick Memphis:''' We work for the federal government. We're not that good at our jobs.}}

* [[This Means War]]: Swagger got upset when they {{spoiler|framed him for trying to kill the President and tried to kill him}}. But he really declared war when {{spoiler|they killed his dog}}!

* [[Training Montage]]: Nick Memphis goes from rookie FBI agent to a sniper thanks to a lesson by Bob.

{{quote|''"He was careful to have men under him who were not quite as bright as he, and he particularly understood the dangers of talent, which was that while it was capable of producing spectacular results, it was just as apt to go off by itself to nurse obscure grudges or lick psychic wounds after gross expenditures of energy. Talent wasn't consistent or loyal or pliant enough to be trusted; Howard deeply hated talent, and made certain that none of the men who worked for him ever had any talent. He'd driven seven talented men out of the Bureau and only one had stood against him, the idiot Nick Memphis, once so bright and brimming with enthusiasm, carefully betrayed at each step of the way, and yet stubborn in his refusal to leave the Bureau."''}}

** For complete reference, prior to the events of the book, Utey was Memphis's superior during a hostage situation where Memphis was attempting to snipe a gunman holding a woman hostage. He yells in Memphis's earbuds just as he takes the shot, ''making him hit the woman!'' That's not conjecture either - Swagger simulates the shot, and is only able to make it by using his training to tune out the screeching over his radio.

* [[The Vietnam War]]: An integral part of many characters' backstories, including Swagger, Payne and Shreck.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]