SNIPER
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Running Length: 1:38 Rated: R (Violence, torture)
Starring: Tom Berenger, Billy Zane, J. T. Walsh Director: Luis Llosa Producer: Robert L. Rosen Screenplay: Michael Frost Beckner and Crash Leyland Music: Gary Chang Released by TriStar Pictures
Thomas Beckett (Tom Berenger) is one of the best snipers in the U. S. Military--an expert on the jungles of Panama with 74 confirmed kills to his name. Now, the National Security Council has decided that a candidate for Panama's upcoming Presidential election needs to be eliminated. Beckett gets sent in, but not on his own. Along with him is Richard Miller (Billy Zane), Beckett's superior and new partner. Although Miller scored well on the range, he's never killed anyone and Beckett isn't sure he's capable of doing so.
SNIPER starts out with a slickly-filmed, tense action scene that promises a thrill-a-minute experience which the remainder of the movie is unable to deliver. There are about five or six action sequences throughout the one-hundred-minute running time, and, while all are exciting, it's what's in between that bogs down an otherwise-promising film. The reliance upon formulas is also annoying. With just a little more inventiveness on the part of writers Beckner and Leyland, this could have been an eye-opener, but the script consistently falls back on the tried-and-true. There was an instant when I thought something truly daring had been accomplished, but, alas, it was only my misunderstanding of events.
I also had a lot of trouble accepting the relationship between Beckett and Miller. The tension between them feels manufactured--a plot device and nothing more. One of the problems is probably that, while I came to understand Beckett, Miller never gelled as a character. As far as I could tell, that was more the fault of the script than Billy Zane's acting.
The action scenes are expertly-directed, and even though the slow-motion bullet effects have been lifted from ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (where the projectile was an arrow, not a bullet), they work to good effect here. Unfortunately, director Luis Llosa has trouble with the long periods between shootings, especially in the first half of the movie where there's a lot of aimless meandering about in the jungle.
The plot, which seems relatively intelligent at the beginning, falls apart in the last third. So much for a tightly-constructed film.... For a while, things were happening so fast that it was difficult--and confusing--trying to keep up. Maybe a different editor would have helped the problem, but SNIPER needs help in the pacing department.
Overall, however, I don't think action fans will be offended. This isn't a complete no-brainer. Some attention has been paid to plot and character, and Berenger is certainly capable of giving a solid performance. No matter how many faults SNIPER may exhibit--and it has a lot of them--it never commits the cardinal offense of becoming dull.
Rating: 7.4 (B-, **1/2)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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