Shooter Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this overall recommended Blu-ray release
Bob Lee Swagger, a former Marine Corps sniper, leaves the military after a mission goes bad. After he is reluctantly pressed back into service, Swagger is double-crossed again. With two bullets in him and the subject of a nationwide manhunt, Swagger begins his revenge, which will take down the most powerful people in the country.
This is the world we live in, and justice does not always prevail. It's not the wild west where
you can clean up the streets with a gun, even though sometimes that's exactly what's
needed.
With the recent news of Blu-ray's total victory over rival format HD DVD and the announcement that we will once again be
seeing Paramount Blu-ray titles on store shelves, I thought that this is as good a
time
as any to review the studio's most popular Blu-ray title to date, Shooter. Released only
weeks before the studio switched allegiances to HD DVD exclusively in August 2007, the disc was
the studio's next to last release on the Blu-ray format (Disturbia would be released a week later).
Selling in excess of $50 or more on auction sites, copies disappeared quickly from store shelves as
Blu-ray fans sought to add this film to their collection, in some cases paying double or triple retail
value. Now that the studio is once again Blu-ray exclusive, we may very well see copies of this
film
popping up on store shelves very soon. If and when it does so, will it be worth your Blu-ray
dollars,
and was the disc worth the exorbitant prices some dedicated Blu-ray fans paid to have it in their
collection?
Mark Whalberg takes aim at standard definition DVD.
Mark Whalberg (We Own the Night) stars as U.S. Marine
Gunnery Sergeant Bob Lee Swagger, the best sniper in the business. On a mission in Ethiopia,
he and his partner are left for dead by their own government when they are ambushed by a
group of heavily armed men. Swagger escapes, but his partner is killed in the attack. Several
years later, Swagger lives alone in the mountains and is approached by Colonel Isaac Johnson
(Danny Glover, Saw) to help his country in preventing an
assassination attempt on the President of the United States. Swagger reluctantly agrees and
heads to several east coast cities where the President will be speaking. He finally decides that
Philadelphia is the city best suited for the potential shooter, and through his description of the
likely set-up for the shot, he unwittingly plans the assassination for a group of unscrupulous
men,
whose reach goes far and wide, into the upper echelons of power. Set up to be the patsy,
Swagger barely escapes with his life and unwittingly involves a rookie FBI agent Nick Memphis
(Michael Peņa, World Trade Center), a man who begins to
piece together the assassination in hopes of exonerating Swagger. Swagger becomes a man on a
mission, out to prove himself innocent and punish those responsible for setting him up as the fall
guy in one of the most notorious crimes in history.
One of my favorite directors, Antoine Fuqua, has once again delivered an exciting, well-crafted,
expertly acted, and strongly directed film. His Training Day remains, in my mind, one of if
not the finest good cop/bad cop movies in cinema history, and in Shooter he once again
proves his worth as a top-notch filmmaker. I found this movie well-paced, telling a believable
story with a sense of realism that only Fuqua and a handful of other directors could
ever pull off. Of course, the movie is meant to be nothing more than an exciting, action-packed
romp, but it pulls off the material with both grandeur and class, showcasing some wonderful
action sequences. It never portrays the hero pulling off the impossible, rather staying true to the
kind of damage a
Marine "Gunny" could pull off, never making him a superman or more than what he is. Mark
Whalberg delivers another fine performance. He's come a long way since his "Marky Mark" days,
establishing himself as an A-list actor with the talent to back up that monicker. Michael Peņa is
also excellent as the strong willed yet somewhat clumsy and unsure of himself FBI agent Nick
Memphis (cool name). All in all, Shooter is solid entertainment from top to bottom,
proving to be both a first-rate actioner but also a smart thriller, and definitely deeper, more
complex, and realistic than your garden variety mindless action flick.
Paramount Pictures presents Shooter as a nice looking 2.35:1, 1080p high definition
transfer. Encoded with the antiquated MPEG-2 codec, the transfer manages to look very good
nonetheless, but it ultimately fails to deliver as a top-tier Blu-ray transfer based on its all-too-
clean
look. The movie is almost completely grain free, which might satisfy some viewers, but left me
wanting a truer theatrical look and feel that the presence of a bit of fine grain brings to a
presentation. I did not see
the film theatrically and I am not sure if some post-process grain removing was done, but it
looked
a bit too glossy and plastic-y to me. Otherwise, this is a pretty strong transfer in all other areas.
There is some excellent attention to detail, especially on close-ups of human faces. We are privy
to
every mole, pit, and strand of facial hair, all looking so real you can almost reach out and touch
them. Flesh tones are equally as impressive, looking natural and bright. Black levels fare very
well.
They are not the deepest and truest I've seen, but they are certainly not an embarrassment
either,
providing a strong contrast to many of the bright, outdoor scenes seen throughout the film.
Color
reproduction is also outstanding. There is never any overly dull, overly bright, or "hot" colors on
display. All in all, and despite the film lacking that theatrical presence, this is still one good
looking
transfer that should satisfy viewers.
Accompanying Shooter on Blu-ray is a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that is neither poor
nor excellent. Through the entirety of the movie, and despite a few pleasing sonic moments, all I
could think about was how much this film would have benefited from a lossless soundtrack. The
lossy track here definitely struck me as mostly underwhelming, lacking the punch the material
deserves. The track is aggressive in nature and doesn't suffer due to a poor mix, just a poor
choice in audio specs for this release. However, dialogue reproduction is outstanding on this disc.
Surrounds are pretty active yet slightly muted, never letting loose and engulfing the viewer in
the movie's action-packed soundtrack. For example, a scene where a car falls into a river makes
for a nice showpiece in sound, but the ultimate lack of immersion was lost on the lossy mix. In
such a scene with a lossless mix, I expect to feel everything but wet, and
what could have been a nice demo piece turned into a ho-hum listening experience. However, a
scene featuring a loud clap of thunder in chapter eight sounded fine. A shootout with automatic
weapons and explosives as the movie draws towards its conclusion sounded loud and exciting
with a lot of rumbling from the subwoofer, but it clearly lacked the power, realism, and "oomph"
that only a lossless mix can deliver. Gunfire, explosions, and the like sounded loud but also
somewhat undefined and muffled. All in all, the track is a mixed bag, and it only suffers from not
providing us with a true high definition listening experience. Hopefully, when Paramount returns
to producing new Blu-ray discs in the coming weeks, lossless or uncompressed sound will be the
norm, as was to be the case on their canceled release of Blades of Glory.
Paramount has provided a good amount of supplements for this release of Shooter. First
is
a feature length commentary track with director Antoine Fuqua. Always good at these, Fuqua is
engaging as usual, discussing difficulties in filming (especially in the movie's climactic moments)
and
crediting the behind-the-scenes people who ensured that locales and technical issues were
resolved
before the final product went on-screen. Fuqua also spends some time in praise of a real
Marine
Gunnery Sergeant, Patrick Garrity. Garrity handmade all of the ghillie suits seen throughout the
movie
and had quite a bit of input to make the film as realistic as possible. There is the typical
discussion
about what was cut out of the final film and drier, more mundane material as well. Still, Fuqua
holds your attention and this track makes for a good listen for fans of the film.
Survival of the Fittest: The Making of 'Shooter' (1080i, 21:50) features the origins of the
movie, beginning with an interview with writer Stephen Hunter, whose novel Point
of
Impact served as the basis for the film. Director Antoine Fuqua, actors Mark Whalberg and
Michael
Peņa, and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura all discuss the ideas behind the film, the motivations
of the characters, and other material. There is a look at the realism that went into the making of
the film, including a trip to sniper school by Mark Whalberg and Antoine Fuqua. Patrick Garrity
talks about the power of some of the rounds and what they would really do to a human body,
and excuses some of the more grotesque absences from the final cut of the film. The real-world
impact of these bullets would be far too graphic to display in a movie. This is a
fascinating piece, especailly for those interested in firearms. Moving along, Independence
Hall (1080i, 7:20) again features Patrick Garrity discussing this crucial setting for the movie
and shooting around the famous structure. Seven deleted scenes (1080i, 11:51) and the film's
theatrical trailer (1080p, 2:31) conclude the supplements.
One of Paramount's last Blu-ray discs before the defection, Shooter lives up to its
reputation as a much sought after film. While by no means perfect on any level, the Blu-ray is
certainly one worthy of any serious collection, and action fans especially should like what they see in
this one. From a technical perspective, this discs looks very good, despite a few reservations I had
with it, and the audio quality is satisfactory but could have been much, much stronger with a
lossless or
uncompressed soundtrack. Supplements are intriguing and in-depth, all in high definition, and
entertaining to
boot. With Paramount's return to Blu-ray solidified and releases imminent, I hope that
Shooter finds its way back onto store shelves. It's a solid movie, worth your time if you like
action, Mark Whalberg, or Antoine Fuqua films. Recommended if you can find it now at a decent
price or if and when it reappears for sale at regular price.
