Francotirador: El legado

Straightforward and predictable. Shallow with not much tension to grapple with. It's good enough for a lazy Sunday afternoon viewing.

What can one say about people trying to track down a Marine who has become unhinged. Nothing much except to follow where they go until the time comes to settle scores.

Tom Berenger's role doesn't do much to elevate this film. And he acts as if he was an automaton. The son's portrayal doesn't offer much either.

.... and they didn't.

Let's start with the positives. The cinematography is to die for. The direction is rock-solid (something many tired sequels can't claim) and the idea of re-imagining the "spotter" as a member of the fairer sex is, well, clever. And visually engaging.

But the clever stops there.

For the record -- and this is an old and cranky reviewer writing this -- I saw the first SNIPER in a theatre. One of the old ones. With a second floor and balconies. It was not bad. At the time Berenger was considered to be "the next big thing" and could do no wrong.

In my view, if you had suggested to Berenger at that time (hypothetically) that the rest of his career would be mainly TV roles, and that the occasional Sniper "redux" would be his only ongoing star turn, I think he would have been shocked.

Just like this reviewer is shocked that, in spite of the cinematography and direction, this film essentially falls apart after the first 20 minutes.

Which is sad because Berenger, in his late sixties, might never get another chance to do this right.

It really is amazing to how some franchises continue to thrive on after so long. Sniper (1993), Sniper 2 (2002) & Sniper 3 (2004) were all films that belonged to actor Tom Berenger. As Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett, Berenger solidified his presence as the man behind this franchise. There's no other way to explain it, the Sniper film series must have a loyal following. And although the quality did slip initially, the stories have slowly progressed into a decent franchise. Fans were even more surprised when producers released Sniper: Reloaded (2011) with no Berenger but instead brought in young actor Chad Michael Collins and veteran actor from the original, Billy Zane. Not only did it surpass its two previous entries but also it brought up questions to how it would continue after that. Well here we are and wow. Another solid entry even though it did not exceed Sniper: Reloaded (2011).

Characters are hard to revive, especially when they go AWOL. Yet, this movie somehow achieves this in Tron: Legacy (2010) fashion (coincidentally along with the title). Out of nowhere, Beckett (Berenger) returns to greatness teaming up with his son and others to take out a deadly assassin who has gone rogue. If there's one character fans will be most happy to see, it's Tom Berenger. To be honest, with the previous movie I thought Berenger was done with the franchise. Apparently not and the interesting thing is, it's like Berenger never stopped being Beckett. He hasn't lost the attitude nor the mannerisms. As for others, Chad Michael Collins continues to be competent in his acting ability and its nice to see him finally meet up with his long lost father. Sadly, the topic of characters is where John Fasano's writing falters.

Even though audiences will finally see Brandon and Tom Beckett reunited, there are several missed opportunities for proper character development of these individuals. For example, where has Beckett been? Why did he leave Brandon? These are crucial questions to help the Beckett family reconcile past problems. Instead, it is initiated but scooted aside abruptly. Most audiences want an emotional attachment to their characters. By brushing it aside, your brushing aside what makes the character the character. There's also issues of unexplained plot holes. Questions like does he still have that finger stigmatism that began giving him problems from Sniper 3 (2004)? What happened to Lieutenant Ellen Abramowitz (Brandon's secret lover) and Richard Miller (Billy Zane) from Sniper: Reloaded (2011)? All these questions needed were quick logical answers, but are ignored through and through. The late Fasano was a decent writer, I guess going over these particular matters were not accepted by the producers or director Don Michael Paul. I don't know who, but they should've gone in this direction for a little bit.

Any of the new characters like Doug Allen, Dennis Haysbert, Dominic Mafham and Mercedes Mason perform respectively. It would've been nice though if the story stuck with one girl because Mason's character comes off like a love interest to Brandon but doesn't express it. If she was in Sniper: Reloaded (2011) then it would not have mattered because the audience would be able to remember from the prior film her relationship with Brandon. The same goes for the actress who played Lieutenant Ellen Abramowitz in the last sequel. Dominic Mafham had an interesting character portrayal. He resembled that of a good knock-off of Clive Owen. Dennis Haysbert doesn't get heavily involved but he does play a significant role and that's appreciated.

The action was nicely paced throughout. It was not as bloody as Sniper: Reloaded (2011) but it still entertained. This time, the action also included several firefights. Not just between Snipers but AK-47s and other hand-held machine guns. As for camera-work, Martin Chichov achieved some beautiful scenery such as shorelines, urban terrain and grasslands. It's also nice how each Sniper film has changed locations around the entire world. Sniper (1993) was in Central America, Sniper 2 (2002) was in Europe, Sniper 3 (2004) was in Asia, Sniper: Reloaded (2011) was in Africa and this film takes place in the Middle East. The music by Frederik Wiedmann was appropriate. When there was action there was plenty of strings and percussion. But because there were barely any emotional scenes, it was hard to hear anything soft enough. However, because of the location Wiedmann did include several tracks that sounded appropriate for the setting and it felt authentic. It's not the best sequel but it is a good one.

It's writing misses several moments to develop its characters the way they should be, along with unexplained details from the last entry. Yet, the return of Tom Berenger feels too gratifying to be upset over for too long. The actors perform decently, the action, music and camera-work are all well staged.

Are you convinced that your script-writing skills are mediocre at best? Not to worry! This (series of!) action movies demonstrates that any script can be made. You are free to use every cliche you can think of. Fill out the running time with maudlin, emotional monologues with only incidental relevance to the story. As to story, just pick anything that's already been done, the more times the better. Make sure the bad guys fit the current stereotype, Russian, or "middle-eastern", or undefined quasi Asian. Fill out more run time with music-only exercise sequences demonstrating the discipline and sexiness of our hero. I don't have space to describe all the things you will learn from this movie. Watch it carefully. You got this. Time to move to L. A.

This move is worth a look see just because there are not any excellent movies made anymore. This movie is in the middle and that is why I gave it a 5 out of 10. There was not much of the movie to follow because if you have seen one you have seen them all. I like Tom Berenger ever since I saw him in "The Big Chill", so I was glad to see him doing some work since he has matured. Also I was glad to see a movie that was not distracting with a lot of nonsense showing nudity and sex. I enjoyed seeing a good movie about Snipers. I would put it up there with "American Sniper", even though this one is just fantasy. So get out the popcorn and set down for a decent watch and enjoy.