Shooter

I generally enjoy movies that explore emotional and philosophical perspectives such as honor, pride and patriotism. Although we humans tend to have a common understanding of each, we experience them differently in terms of depth and appreciation. Flicks with that theme gets my popcorn popping every time. Throw in some bombs and guns and revenge-based violence?

You had me at conspiracy.

Mark Wahlberg is fine in his role as the double-crossed Marine marksman Bob Lee Swagger. Although pretty savvy and highly cautious, Swagger finds himself chin-deep in a governmental conspiracy he didn't see coming. He's forced to rely on some people he barely knows to work through the ordeal, including disgraced FBI newbie Nick Memphis (played by Michael Pena).

And we've now stumbled onto the real problem with Shooter. The character names, like Swagger and Memphis, and later a bad guy named Payne: the flick suffers from being a caricature. It tries to entertain us with an interesting war story, but really it's full of cliche and predictable plot themes. As I said, the acting is fine and the action is interesting, but that's about all that makes this movie.

And that's too bad. It had real potential.