At this point in the Sniper timeline, it’s genuinely tough to think of anything new to say about the sixth entry in the neverending, sharpshooting franchise – which, as a reviewer, is a little worrying disconcerting as there’s still five more of the bastards left to go. However, one thing that does stick in my mind is that it must have been rather frustrating for franchise lead Chad Michael Collins that even after three movies as sniper prodigy Brandon Beckett, the script still has him wearing his Billy Zane/Tom Berenger training wheels as he’s once again flanked by a series original.
Anyway, with the sixth installment of a franchise that alot of people still don’t know about, we find that things are very much proceeding as usual as the usual mixture of cock-sure sniper teams, pond-hopping political intrigue and sporadic gun fights resume without any great changes made to the basic formula. But what the hell, let’s take a look down the scope and see what we’ve got in store anyway…
We rejoin headshot whizzkid Brandon Beckett as he draws beads on generic ISIS types as he and his Sniper team hope to liberate a bunch of hostages who are about to be decapitated in some godforsaken desert in the Middle East. However, once again, it seems that Beckett still has something an issue with the morals of shooting someone from about a mile away for the greater good and he’s tested like never before when it seems that one of the terrorists is revealed to be a ten year-old boy. Needless to say, Beckett hesitates causing his position to be given away and in the ensuing chaos, one of the hostages is killed – but as this is a typical slice of 2010s set war porn, he only gets a dressing down from legacy character Richard Miller for not shooting a child and we’re soon off to our next mission.
It seems that the building of a new pipeline through the Republic of Georgia to Western Europe has caught the eye of extremists hoping to make a sizable statement and Beckett, Miller and company are flown in to offer long distance protection. However, after yet another violent gunfight, it becomes apparent that there’s a “ghost shooter” in the mix in the form of a rival sniper who seems to know exactly where they’re all hiding and drastically shrinks their ranks with some well placed bullets.
Convinced that there’s a leak occurring somewhere that’s compromising his team, Brandon once again goes off on one of his random solo missions to meet with a contact who can offer him a meeting with his new nemesis and hopefully plug the flow of vital information. But after getting involved in yet another firefight (this time in the snow), Beckett seems to have figured out how the ghost shooter knows the positions of the American forces – the problem is, can he convince his superiors?
After helming Sniper: Legacy, returning director Don Michael Paul once again manages to create a rather slick slice of war porn that’s dependably full of explosive firefights and plenty instances of CGI blood spraying from various headshots. The digital drones and helicopters look a little iffy, sure, but if you’re in the mood for yet another 90 minutes of a plot that really does feel better suited to a videogame than a movie, then Paul’s got up covered – possibly with a huge rifle that could put a hole in a titanium shithouse from five miles out. However, for all the bang for you buck that the movie tries to give you, it regrettably adds up to next to nothing as the filmmakers essentially make the exact same mistakes as some of the other installment made that continually thwarts Ghost Shooter from being actually exciting or even remotely interesting.
For a start, the film covers way too much ground that the series has already gone over. For a start, we find Chad Michael Collins’ spectacularly dull Brandon Beckett still undecided whether to shit or get off the pot when it comes to adapting to the moral code of a sniper and a storyline that repeatedly sees him chastised for not blowing away a ten year-old boy just feels way too heavy. Oh, I realise that decisions like this have to be made every day in real, military life, but while other movies would make this moral conundrum the entire plot, it’s way too much to be a side-plot in a throwaway DTV actioner. Elsewhere, Dennis Haybert returns as “the Colonal” to gravely dole out missions and Beckett once again he’s surrounded by a team of fellow snipers who say things like “Embrace the suck” and “Fighting gets me wet” unironically in everyday conversation who are eventually used for cannon fodder.
However, due to none of the characters being allowed to break free of the typical cliche roles that these movie have, we don’t actually give much of a shit when the ghost shooter starts punching their tickets. It’s weird, because Paul is obviously trying to create some continuity here due to the return of both Haybert, a quick cameo for Dominic Mafham’s Bidwell and the return of Billy Zane’s Miller who bizarrely isn’t given anything of worth to actually do – but if you really wanted to create a bunch of returning characters, why would you make the actual team that Beckett is part about as memorable as one of the background Minions from a crowd scene in Despicable Me?
The script also shoots itself in the foot by having a completely forgettable villain, a lead who hasn’t generated any interest in three movies and repetitive arguments between Beckett and Stephanie Vogt’s stubbon head of operations who shoots down his suspicions just as capably as he shoots extremists. Even though Ravil Isyanoc’s grizzled Russian sharpshooter threatens to steal the show, it’s a shame that the movie can’t make any of its other characters feel even vaguely three dimensional because there’s a real sense that the action beats, while still admittedly repetitive, is starting to come into their own. In fact, the middle section finally shifts the snipey action from both the jungles and the desert into the snows of Georgia and the sight of brain matter splattering on pure white snow shows that Don Michael Paul is at least trying to up his visual game. However, it isn’t enough to make Sniper: Ghost Shooter be a stand out among the rapidly growing Sniper franchise and even the use of Billy Zane as a hook simply isn’t hitting like it once did.
Straddling the line between serviceable and forgettable, Ghost Shooter manages to stage large, energetic (if samey) gunfights at the expense of having an entire cast of boring characters carry them out. In fact, I’m beginning to suspect the real reason that Brandon Beckett is such a gifted sniper is that he’s so damn bland, he successfully blends into any background. This shooter needs to tighten his focus.
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