Shooter

Described as ‘the thinking man’s Rambo’, Bob Lee Swagger is the sharp-shooting hero of three gung-ho novels by Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter.

In this enjoyably dopey adaptation of the first - Point of Impact – Mark Wahlberg flexes his action muscles as the super-sniper who quits the Marine Corps after an operation in Ethiopia is botched, leaving his best bud dead (fulfilling the first rule of action thrillers: produce a photo of the girl back home and you’re a goner).

Three years later, military manipulator Colonel Johnson (Glover) swings into Swagger’s mountain hideaway. "Some people don’t know what to do when their belief system collapses," he explains to his CIA cohorts. "Bobby Lee is one of those".

The G-men are there because an assassination plot is afoot and Johnson needs Swagger to lay off the Grizzly Adams routine and help bag the gunman before he bags the President.

Second rule of the genre: never trust The Man. And lo, it’s a set-up.

Wounded and wanted by every law agency in the land, Swagger gets around Rule #3 (fugitives always walk into bars and shops just as their picture appears on TV) before being patched up by his dead friend’s girl (Mara - she of the photo).

He also has an unlikely ally in Nick Memphis (Peña, World Trade Center), the disgraced FBI rookie he bested while fleeing the scene.

Memphis is convinced of Swagger’s innocence, and even persuades his colleague (Rhona Mitra) to put her delectable derriere on the line to prove it.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to Swagger to clear his name and bring down Johnson and his government goons, including Ned Beatty's sneaky senator. After all, they broke the fourth rule: never harm a mountain man’s mutt.

Having murdered a legend with King Arthur, director Fuqua is just the guy to blow away all credibility in a barrage of car chases, gunfights, explosions and gratuitous shots of Mara and Mitra in their underwear.

It’s safe to say that the only cerebral content in Shooter is the stuff exploding from the heads of Swagger’s targets.

But shoot, you certainly get plenty of bang for your buck. So if you’re the sort of person who’d use a Howitzer to hit a tin can, put it in your sights.

Elliott Noble