SHOOTER (2007) - **1/2

I used to call Antoine Fuqua the black Michael Bay, but that's incorrect. I should say instead that Michael Bay is the white Antoine Fuqua-wannabe.

Oh sure, both guys are prone to use the same urinated-on-technicolor-looking camera filters and slow-motion "walks" by the hero (because you know, its like as cool now as a "Members Only" jacket.) but the critical difference is, Fuqua has something that Bay has never had: Fuqua has at least shot one decent-good movie, in TRAINING DAY.

Plus, Fuqua uses the success of his action-jobber pictures to get side-projects produced like the excellent documentary BASTARDS OF THE PARTY and his own-shot blues documentary LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE. My point is, even if I don't care for Fuqua as a director, I at least respect for what he does with his success, unlike say Bay is probably using his TRANSFORMERS money to buy his 27th Porsche as we speak.

I mean, there is hope for Fuqua when in the climax, we the audience are fooled into a game of Guess Who? about which sniper is which. That works in SHOOTER.

The problem with Fuqua is, despite my graceful prologue, he is a generic director (unless David Ayer scripts for him it seems), and like TEARS OF THE SUN, Fuqua's SHOOTER snipes away a potential fully-packed genre-ticket in favor of a very forgettable picture.

I mean, SHOOTER is the sort of premise that could write itself into a good action movie. The best sniper in America (Whalberg) is tagged to help stop an assassin by government figures. He is then betrayed, shot, and framed for murdering the Archbishop of Ethiopia. Of course, Whalberg gets mad and gets even.

So what went wrong?

*COMMANDO - Ok, I understand if this best sniper ever was trained to survive harsh environments and to kill people at close range. But when Mark Whalberg goes all COMMANDO and Jason Bourne on foot soldiers invading a ranch house he is holed up in, I'm stunned. Not because it was anything special, but I was trying to justify myself how he could do all that.

*GENERIC VILLAINS - I know, the idea from the pre-release media junkets given is that its a massive conspiracy this side of the supposed-JFK conspiracy cabal, but you know what? Thats an excuse for having weak villains. I mean, Ned Beatty played a memorable baddie in Lumet's NETWORK, and it was only one scene. There is no excuse for wasting him.

*MICHAEL PENA - I hate him as an actor. He can take the greatest lines penned by Shakespeare, and mumble them to make you think ole Bill was a hack. Instead of wanting to cheer this guy kicking ass with Whalberg, I wanted someone to plant a bullet in the skull of that character.

*CONTRIVED - Would you be shocked if the hero ends up banging the sister of his dead spotter? How about the FBI slamming Pena's character hard simply because he got his ass kicked by a trained-soldier? Hey, don't forget the FBI not beleving Pena, despite his truckload of evidence. If I wanted to see this much contrived "obstacle" garbage, I would stay home and watch 24.*

*BOTCHED "DRAMATIC" MOMENTS - The premise of the hero learning that he had helped sniper for a US military job that basically killed men, women, and children to get land to build for a damn oil pipeline in Ethiopia, from being betrayed by his government, to being an utter murdering tool for it.....I mean, its not a bad idea at all. But whatever "seriousness" one is to get from such moments in the movie, they just pass by and our shoulders shrug.

Paul Greengrass makes us feel Matt Damon's guilt for a past crime in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, and it was just two people. Whalberg helped commit genocide, and we just don't care. Way to go Antoine.

You know what would have saved this nice-premise? OK, what if there is a leader of an American-puppet regime that threatens to ass-blast away a planned-American oil pipeline inside that country this side of Lázaro Cárdenas?

The government whacks him, and uses poor Mark Whalberg as the proxy-fall guy. Meanwhile, the FBI crew trying to solve the case and catch Whalberg are being obstructed and bullied around by the rest of the government: White House, CIA, Homeland Security, etc. like with Watergate. Just a suggestion.

Remember that scene in SUPREMACY when Damon has his sniper rifle lock and loaded against the CIA? Well, SHOOTER could have been "what if Damon opened fire?" except the trigger is pulled by the guy who blew Damon's brains out in that Boston cop drama.

Instead, I'm wondering.........What was Danny Glover doing with a lisp? Now if Donald Duck was the bad guy this side of Lucio Fulci's NEW YORK RIPPER, that would have been awesome....

*=There, I said it. 24 is contrived. Why doubt Jack Bauer anymore? Just give him a blank check and sit back. Besides, John McClaine does Bauer's job in 2 hours instead of 24 hours. He's more efficient this side of Indian outsourcing.