Sniper 3

While this is certainly low budget, the producers and director did something special that set this one apart: they got a good script AND good actors. Tom Beringer and Byron Mann headed up a cast that took what little money was thrown into this movie and brought it up to the level of many films that have found their way into the local cinema. Even surpassed a lot of them. They took a very well written script and squeezed every drop out of it that they could and made a very enjoyable film to boot. Could it have been better? Sure. The production values could have been better if a few more bucks had come their way. But given the limitations: this movie rocked!

I liked the casting choices. Of course Tom Berenger is the perfect actor but John Doman, Denis Arndt, William Duffy and especially Byron Mann were convincing in their characters. The Vietnamese cast and crew were phenomenal. I liked the very well-written story, no loose ends. All the information that was told in the story was used with it's conclusions. I like the location choices in Vietnam. I loved the music (WOW). There was a Southeast Asian theme but not over the top stereotypical. The music was hip and matched the screens of the movie. I like the cinematography. The lighting at the dock with Quan and the informant, spooky. Great job, really !!

Sniper was a solid and moody thriller boosted by some top notch action sequences. Sniper 2 proved to be a very solid sequel and not that far behind the original. Sniper 3 is every bit as good as, if not slightly better, than part 2 as it expands somewhat on Beckett and gives you more of an insight into this interesting character.

Retired Marine sniper Beckett, now teaching this profession, is given a one off assignment; track down an kill and old friend who's been supplying weapons to the enemy.

The action scenes are good, production values surprisingly good, the story is mostly well written and the film is fast paced. These are all qualities that make a decent film and Sniper 3 is definitely a very decent action/thriller. Tom Berenger adds more layers to Beckett's character and gives a very good performance.

The Sniper trilogy is well worth watching, every movie has something going for it.

Although sniper Thomas Beckett is still known as a master of his "art", his loss of a finger and deal with the Corp to stay with a training programme has now earned him a reputation as a pain in the ass washed out old man. However the NSA need a sniper to take out a Vietnamese drug warlord who has moved into international terrorism. The problem is that this "warlord" is former CIA and Beckett's spotter who has taken his former role of using drug running to fund black ops for the US and expanded it, with the "presumed dead" label helping him to do it.

I'm not sure what made me try this film although rest assured that the offer of a Tom Berenger three-quel is not usually what has me forming a "Star Wars" style queue at my cinema. It was actually reasonably good for what it was though, despite doing no one thing really well and generally accepting for a level of serviceability across the board. This can be seen in the many things it tries to do. It wants to have a conspiracy/shadowy NSA men thing; a "sick of the killing but am nothing without it" character thing; an action movie thing and, weirdly, an Apocalypse Now thing as well. Being a direct to video third film in an unremarkable series, I doubt that dropping all of these and focusing on one would have made them any better so actually it does do a reasonable job of having a bit of everything.

If you're looking for a solid direct-to-video thriller then the little touches surrounding Beckett and Finnegan will be of interest and perhaps be a welcome addition to what the film is doing. Anyone expecting it to do much more than the basics with Beckett's supposedly broken man other than having him mumbling something about being "tired" will be disappointed because of all the things the film does, it generally doesn't take them beyond this level. The film still engages though, despite the way the action rarely actually reflects the stealth of the title or the "one shot" of the tagline. Pesce does an OK job of directing given the usual b-movies he does (which I suppose this is another one of).

The cast are mixed and do mostly do the job , albeit a job where not a lot is asked. Berenger does "grizzled" well and wears it like a pair of old slippers here. In terms of depth or understanding of his character I'd suggest he doesn't bring much out, but then he doesn't really need to. Mann is on hand to do "oriental side kick" duties as is often the way; I like him as he is an attractive man and has an easy charm and he gets to do a fight scene in return for playing second fiddle. Arndt and Duffy are suitably shadowy but the surprise find for me was a solid presence from Streutker. Better known to those with taste as Rawls from The Wire (and if you haven't seen this show then I would suggest you perhaps put that above things like Sniper 3 in your rental queue), he manages to do a good job with basically what is a half-baked rip off of Kurtz. His character is stupid, his motivations worse and the jail room scene just too close to being a spoof but yet the man has presence and he makes for a good big character opposite Berenger.

Overall then, a fairly serviceable DTV thriller. It has lots of things going on but does none of them beyond a level that could be politely called average. However by having them there it does help make the film feel slightly better than it is and, for all it did, I reasonably enjoyed it.

while this final installment in the series isn't as good as the previous two,it's still not too bad.it's still very watchable.it just takes much longer too get going and even when it does,it much slower than the other two.the character are not as interesting either.having said that,the movie still entertains.and that last shot has to be seen to be believed.i had to rewind to see it again.that was truly a one in a million shot.of course it wasn't real.but it was still something to see.without that particular scene,i would give this movie a rating of 6.but that one moment actually elevates the movie.for me,Sniper 3 is a 7/10