Like a sniper it waited. Silent. Unmoving. Dormant. Virtually invisible to all but the highly trained. However, when the exact time was right, it sprang back into life, finger twitching on that life altering trigger to usher in a whole new era despite nobody remembering that it was even there…
“It”, of course, proved to be the Sniper franchise that had channeled its initial cinematic success into a couple of DTV sequels that, while noticably strapped for cash, still delivered solid thrills while giving an aging Tom Berenger further changes to look utterly miserable on film. But after the third film debuted in 2004, it seemed like the series had discharged its final bullet and the odyssey of Thomas Beckett had taken aim one last time. However, someone, somewhere obviously thought that the franchise had some life left in its still-twitching frame and in 2011, the franchise was birthed anew with some rather strange results…
Let me introduce you to Marine Sgt. Brandon Beckett, a dedicated soldier who also is the son of sniper extraordinaire Thomas Beckett despite the fact that this is the first time we’ve ever heard of him – remember, Sniper 3 was only seven years ago. We meet him having to explain himself after a recent mission in the Democratic Republic Of Congo went horribly wrong and just like that we take a trip on the flashback express back a couple of weeks ago.
We find Beckett and his unit teaching the local army about the finer points of warfare to aim them when they go into hostile rebel territory, but they’re soon tasked with a mission to go rescue a European farmer whose property sits within the danger zone. Things prove to be awkward enough when the farmer refuses to leave, but when Beckett’s men are slaughtered one at a time by a hidden sniper, out hero proves to be the only survivor after taking a round in the shoulder area and being left for dead by his attacker.
When he recovers, he staggers his way back to a populated area to heal and eventually conjures up the plan to seek out and hunt down the sniper who treated his men like a shooting gallery at a funfair and manages to get himself some head while he’s at it. While attractive UN Lieutenant Ellen Abramowitz helps grease the legal wheels a little, it’s sniper instructor Richard Miller who proves to provide the most aid as a one-time protégé of Beckett’s father and, more importantly, a vital link in order to connect this random-ass sequel officially with the originals.
Before you know it, Beckett’s uncovering a conspiracy that includes his own bass and a mysterious assasin nicknamed “The Italian” who was once trained by Miller himself. But can Beckett learn the skills of a kind of warfare he regards as cowardly fast enough to out-shoot his would-be killer?
I actually thought the original three Sniper flicks were fairly watchable pulp that saw Berenger’s constantly frowny sharpshooter have to contend with a new partner and new terrain to shoot people on, however, with the franchise suddenly rising like an unwanted phoenix, bringing back the original, grizzled lead obviously wasn’t much of an option. But with Berenger gone, his replacement proves to be his character’s son whose existence simply doesn’t make a single bit of sense. At no point during the original trilogy does Beckett mention he has a son, which is weird because not only do they share a surname (so not illegitimate then), but if young Brandon had been born after the end of Sniper 3, he’d be fucking seven.
Anyway, the logistics of Brandon’s existence aren’t anywhere near as important as his portrayal and while he’s certainly more cheerful than his old man, Chad Michael Collins proves to be something of a forgettable lead. It’s not entirely his fault as the movie he’s headlining is scripted and shot exactly like every single other DTV action/war film that was made during the decade and the movie simply can’t think of anything to make the character stand out other than just being your standard “good soldier”. In fact, Collins’ character is so vanilla, in group scenes where he’s with the rest of his unit, I actually had trouble picking him out from some of his buddies until the movie thoughtfully whittles down the choices by having them picked off by a hidden villain. Not to jump ahead too much, but the fact that this guy went to head up another seven sequels seems utterly ridiculous from this point in the franchise, but we’ve plenty of time for the dude to stop resembling a NPC that’s somehow accidently stumbled into a leading role.
In fact, not that much is actually made of Beckett’s parentage (is his dad dead; believed dead; estranged?), but the one interesting plot point that comes out of a weirdly flabby movie is that Brandon doesn’t actually consider sniping to be an honorable form of combat in the least – but instead of chasing down this rock solid plot thread, the movie instead wastes time with a side plot involving a doomed farmer’s young daughter that actually has no bearing on the overall plot whatsoever. However, the game changes ever so slightly whenever a returning Billy Zane wanders into frame and while he’s obviously there to pick up an undemanding paycheck and act as a brief mentor to Brandon (very brief – he goes from novice to expert after a couple of hours and a few words of advice). Amusingly, that actor isn’t even trying to create any continuity with his performance from 18 years ago and instead does his usual Billy Zane shtick from under a rather cool mustache. Is the guy utterly phoning it in? Of course, but he’s still by far the most interesting character involved and thankfully he sticks around long enough to participate in the finale which sees him suddenly drop all pretence of snipering being a long, drawn out affair and instead starts rapidly dropping bodies like he’s getting paid by the corpse.
The action is serviceable if a little basic as director Claudio Fäh shoots everything the exact same way everyone shot every DTV war/action film that decade – but bonus points for the moment where Zane shoots a guy through a wall and pops his head like a water balloon wearing shades.
Still, exploding heads and a moustached Zane aside, I’m not entirely sure what prompted the Sniper franchise to make such a random comeback, and furthermore, there’s nothing much going on within Sniper: Reloaded to actually justify dredging it’s series up from the secret franchise burial ground where it was just lying around not bothering anyone. Maybe it was an attempt to fire up a pre-existing brand name to capitalise on the Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare crowd, maybe someone didn’t even realise they owned the rights for ages and then suddenly found out – but whatever the reason, this movie definitely needs to get it’s sights realigned…
🌟🌟
We Have Issues 