Everything about Shooter Film totally explained
Shooter is a
2007 action/
conspiracy thriller directed by
Antoine Fuqua. The film is based on the novel
Point of Impact by
Stephen Hunter.
Shooter was released on
March 23,
2007. The film's DVD was released on
June 26,
2007, reaching the top of the sales charts.
Synopsis
Bob Lee Swagger (
Mark Wahlberg) is a retired
United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper who left the Marines after a betrayal by the CIA which left his best friend and spotter, Donnie Fenn, dead. A group that leads him to believe they're federal agents approaches him to help entrap a potential assassin, who may attempt to shoot the President at one of three possible locations. Swagger is framed, and afterwards every law enforcement agency is after him, and he's forced to use his military training so that
justice prevails.
Shooter was filmed mainly in
British Columbia,
Canada.
Plot
Bob Lee Swagger (
Wahlberg), retired
USMC Force Recon Marine Sniper, is one of the few
snipers in the world whose sharpshooting abilities allow him to "take out a target from a mile away." He reluctantly leaves a self-imposed exile from his isolated
Wyoming mountain home at the request of Colonel Isaac Johnson (
Glover) and a team of agents. Johnson appeals to his expertise and patriotism to help track down a purported presidential assassin who plans on shooting the president from a great distance with a high powered rifle. Johnson gives him a list of 3 sites where the President is scheduled to visit so Swagger could determine if an attempt could be made at any of them.
Swagger assesses each of the locations given to him by Johnson and determines that a site in
Philadelphia would be most conducive to a long range assassination attempt. He passes this information to Johnson, who purportedly arranges for a response.
This turns out to be a set-up: while Swagger is working with Johnson's agents—including a local police officer—to find the rumored assassin, the
Ethiopian archbishop is instead assassinated while standing next to the president. Swagger is shot by the officer, but manages to escape.
The agents tell the police and public that Swagger is the shooter, and stage a massive manhunt for the injured sniper. However, Swagger has a stroke of luck—he meets rookie FBI agent Nick Memphis (
Peña), disables him and steals his car.
He is thus able to use the first aid supplies in the car to staunch his wounds and escape by driving into the river after an extended chase. He then takes refuge with Donnie Fenn's widow Sarah Fenn (
Mara). She saves his life by cleaning and stitching Swagger's gunshot wounds, and a healing Swagger later convinces her to help him contact Memphis with information on the conspiracy. Memphis was blamed for allowing Swagger's escape, and in the process of being disciplined for negligence has independently learned that Swagger may have been framed for the assassination by rogue elements conspiring with a politician.
Once the rogue agents realize their secret has been compromised, they kidnap Memphis and attempt to stage his faked suicide. Swagger tails the agents and kills Memphis' captors with a
.22 and a homemade
silencer. Swagger and Memphis then join forces against the rogue agents and visit a firearms expert living in
Athens, Tennessee. Together they plot to capture who they think is the real assassin, an ex-sniper allied with Colonel Johnson. Once they find him in
Lynchburg, Virginia, he commits suicide after revealing that the archbishop was actually the real target of the assassins, and he was murdered in order to prevent him from speaking out against U.S. involvement in the genocide of an Ethiopian village. The genocide occurred in order to advance the aims of a consortium of American corporate oil interests headed by corrupt U.S. Senator Charles Meachum (
Beatty). Swagger records the ex-sniper's confession as proof of the involvement in the African genocide, then with Memphis's assistance is able to escape from the trap set to ensnare them by killing all 24 mercenaries.
Meanwhile, other rogue mercenaries have kidnapped Sarah Fenn in order to entrap Swagger. With his new evidence and cat-and-mouse strategy, Swagger and Memphis are able to rescue her when Colonel Johnson and Senator Meachum arrange a meeting to exchange their hostage for Swagger's evidence of their wrongdoing. After killing several enemy snipers in an isolated mountain range and rescuing Sarah, Swagger and Memphis finally surrender to the FBI.
Later appearing in a closed meeting with the head of the FBI and the
United States Attorney General present, he clears his name by loading a rifle round (supplied by Memphis) into his rifle (which is present as evidence as it was supposedly used in the killing), aiming it at the Colonel and pulling the trigger—which fails to fire the round. Swagger explains that every time he leaves his house, he replaces the firing pins from all his rifles with slightly shorter pins, rendering them unable to fire until he replaces them again. Unfortunately, although Swagger is exonerated, Colonel Johnson takes advantage of a legal loophole—the Ethiopian genocide is outside American legal jurisdiction—and walks free. The attorney general approaches Swagger and states that as a law enforcement official, he must abide by the law—and Swagger is seen considering that statement.
Afterwards, the Colonel and the Senator plan their next power play in the Senator's vacation house—only to be interrupted by Swagger attacking the house. He kills both conspirators, one of the Colonel's aides and two bodyguards, then breaks open a gas valve before leaving. The fire in the fireplace ignites the gas, blowing up the house. The final scene shows Swagger getting into a car with Fenn and driving away.
Differences between the novel and the screenplay
The greatest difference between
Point of Impact and
Shooter is that Swagger in the novel is in his 40s, a veteran of the war in
Vietnam, while in the film Swagger was a younger veteran of 1990s combat in
Ethiopia. Sarah is likewise much younger.
Otherwise, the film largely follows the novel, though several subplots are eliminated or modified for the sake of brevity. The character of Nick Memphis is reduced from a major, well-developed character (also a trained sniper) to a sidekick, and his relationships with supervisor Howard D. Utey and a female coworker are barely addressed. Utey's last name is even changed, eliminating the "Howdy Duty" plot line. In the novel, Utey was connected to the conspiracy, and attempts to influence Memphis' testimony in the climactic trial. In the film, Howard is little more than a bit part. Dobbins (Dobbler in the novel), the psychologist, loses all depth of character—he is killed in the "final comeuppance" scene. In the novel, the Colonel is killed during the fight on the mountaintop, as is the wheelchair-bound sniper.
The ultimate climax in the novel is Swagger's very public trial, in which Swagger's innocence is proven the same way, but in front of a media-packed courtroom (with Howard D. Utey being the big loser). The film features a secret hearing, with the climax taking place in the Senator's cabin.
Sniper weapons, tactics, and technical accuracy
Shooter features some of the most realistic sniper tactics displayed in a movie at the time of its release. The filmmakers employed former U.S. Marine scout sniper Patrick Garrity, in order to train Mark Wahlberg in accurate sniper tactics. As Wahlberg was already in excellent physical condition, Garrity submitted him to a very rigorous and realistic sniper training. Crucial to the movie was for Wahlberg to learn shooting both left and right-handed (the actor is left-handed), as he'd to switch shooting posture throughout the movie, due to Swagger's sustained injuries. He was also trained to adjust a weapon's scope, judge effects of wind to a shot, master rapid bolt manipulation and develop special breathing skills. His training concluded with extreme distance shooting (up to 1,100 yards), and the use of
ghillie suits. Following the success of Wahlberg's training, Fuqua was impressed enough to appoint Garrity as the film's military technical advisor.
Throughout the film Swagger uses an array of sniper weapons, among which are the
USMC M40A3 rifle and
Barrett M107 sniper rifles and Donnie Fenn used an M4 with a M203 grenade launcher and optics in the African opening sequences,
Cheyenne Tactical M-200 Intervention in .408 CheyTac used to shoot the Dinty Moore stew can, and
Remington 700P in .300 Winchester Magnum. Handguns used by Swagger include a
Beretta 92 used in the fight against the 24 mercenaries and a
Colt M1911-A1 in the final shootout scene.
The level of technical accuracy in the film is high. Such things as the use of sugar and other supermarket supplies for Swagger's medical care were portrayed in a realistic manner. When saving Memphis, Swagger makes a field-expedient sound suppressor by mounting an empty plastic bottle on the rifle muzzle.
Music
The score to the film was composed by
Mark Mancina, who recorded the music at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage in
Studio City,
CA using a 77-piece orchestra conducted by
Don Harper. A score soundtrack was released by
Lakeshore Records on
March 27 2007.
Cast
Further Information
Get more info on 'Shooter Film'.
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