'Shooter' aims to please thrill-seekers, Wahlberg fans

by Hilary McNamara, opinion editor

For all the thrill-seekers, “Shooter” is one move that will give quite an adrenaline rush.

            “Shooter” is a movie about retired military marksman Bob Lee Swager, played by Mark Wahlberg, who the government contacts again to help stop an attack on the president. Wahlberg is not too happy with the government, because when he and his best friend went on a mission, he was left to die and not everyone made it out.

            Because of this, Swager holes up in the mountains and loses contact with most of society.  Immediately, you fall in love with the character Wahlberg creates. He is the dark, troubled type. Danny Glover plays Colonel Isaac Johnson, who finds Swager and attempts to sign him up for the mission. Glover’s character does not quite seem like the man who he says he is.

            When Swager decides to go to Washington and accept the mission, things start to get a little tricky. He is asked to go to four different cities where the President is supposed to speak and figure out where the assassin will make his attempt. When he chooses the city, he alerts the government and they set things up so the president has extra protection.

             Suddenly, everything goes haywire. An attempt is made on the president’s life, but the shooter missed. That one shot turns the whole movie around, and suddenly all the good guys are pointed out as bad guys. Agent Nick Memphis, played by Michael Pena, starts to investigate the shooting and soon notices things are not right. He is thrown into the plot and ends up befriending Swager.

            Swager is shot twice during the attempted assassination, but he gets framed and is wanted for attempted murder. He runs to the one place he can think of, the home of the fiancé of his deceased best friend.  The fiancé, who is played by Kate Mara, is Sarah Fenn, a southern bell who is hesitant to help him at first but eventually warms up to him. Throughout the whole movie, there are twists and turns.            

            The special effects were pretty cool. Girls, this may look like a hard-core guy movie, but it has Wahlberg in it, and he looks really good. It is also a great date movie, because you can snuggle up to your guy during the really gory parts. This is definitely a must-see in the theater. I give this movie nine out of ten bullets.