SNIPER

SNIPER is the story of a veteran Marine sniper and a spotter from NSC, who are sent into the Panamanian jungle to terminate the life of a renegade general in charge of the a bloody resistance movement. The soldiers must learn to work together or fall victim to unknown terrors. The movie begins deep in the mountainous Panamanian rainforest. Tom Berenger stars as Colonel Thomas Beckett, a career military man who has become the Marine’s best sniper. His mission is to assassinate a Panamanian rebel leader before he can lead an insurgence that will destabilize the country. The unimaginative plot rehashes a familiar scenario: cynical Beckett is reluctantly teamed with a cocky sharpshooter with zero combat experience, and through a series of bloody trails they ultimately learn to respect each other. In the end, they survive and become friends, while the bad guys are riddled with bullets.

The most disturbing aspect of this film is not the mediocre filmmaking, but the grim underlying theme that motivates the actions of the characters. By having characters that have little or no conscience towards their fellow man, the filmmakers bring us closer to a desensitized world where killing has no moral implications for the person pulling the trigger. SNIPER is worth avoiding due to its sanctioning of wanton killing. Berenger’s acting is worth watching, but even this is damaged by the mediocre dialogue and uninspired direction.