Sniper: G.R.I.T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team

This was a pleasant surprise, all things considered.

Because the last Sniper movie - Rogue Mission - was so bad that even me, a huge, unapologetic fan of every other entry in the long-running franchise (this is the tenth installment, which is hard to believe), was thinking that, if this was the best they could manage, it should be the last. End it, and leave us with good memories of fun B-grade (in a good way) action films about guys named Beckett!

Thankfully, it wasn't the last one, because Sniper: G. R. I. T. is a welcome return to form. And aren't I happy about it?

If you enjoyed any of the previous Chad Michael Collins films, aside from Rogue Mission, of course, then you'll probably agree.

I realised very early on that everything is better here: the acting, the action, the script, which went in a different direction to what I expected after the first few minutes.

The cast look energised - especially Dennis Haysbert, who is probably seen more in this movie than any other Sniper film he has appeared in - as if looking to provide a mea culpa for their collectively shocking last effort. And, they do.

Is it believable? No. Is it violent escapism action fun? Yes. If this is the standard going forward, I hope there are plenty more Sniper movies to come.

Not a usually a brainless cheap action fan, but some of these throughout the series offer some entertainment, especially when tired and not really in the mood to blow energy watching something riveting. I just sort of had this one on in the background while cooking and ended up having to pause it several times when I couldn't watch some of the fun action. It's not particularly smart, and comes off a little beefcake, but it is one of the better offerings in the franchise, in my opinion. It's shot pretty clean, with good production value and has some nuance that had me chuckling a bit, more than once- (Intel Pete is always worth a smirk). Decent formula for mindless gory-but-humorous shoot 'em up entertainment. Even a little bit of story for Lady Death. Ultimately, if you have liked some of these in the past, this is now one of the better ones in my opinion.

Have they really run out of ideas? From the opening scenes of an overweight cult leader with a star on his forehead that makes for the perfect bullseye, the cheap James Bond garage or batcave hidden in the back of a Chinese restaurant after the first first 10 minutes, it does not really improve.

It is like an awkward teenager trying to be funny and cool at the same time, It doesn't work. The comedy is forced and everybody can figure out what is going to happen next 5 minutes before it does, like we know the tracking device is not in the phones. The actor s do a fair job with what they have but the writing missed the whole Target.

Another year, another "Sniper" movie, or so it seems. This 2023 movie titled "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" is actually the tenth movie in the franchise. Believe it or not.

The storyline in this 2023 movie was a bit weak in comparison to some of the other movies, and held up against the 1993 original "Sniper" movie, then this was a whole different league, and not for the better.

Writer and director Oliver Thompson put together a bland storyline. The narrative in the movie was moving forward at a somewhat slow pace. And that made sitting through "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" somewhat of a mundane ordeal. And for a movie based on snipers, there was a surprisingly little part of the movie's storyline actually devoted to or focused on actual sniping action. Nay, "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" was more of an action movie than a sniper movie.

There were even some futile attempts at introducing some comedy elements into the movie, which played out with little or no success, to be truthful.

Sure, if you haven't seen other "Sniper" movies, then I suppose this 2023 movie could be considered good.

The acting performances in "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" were fair enough, and it definitely was a nice enough thing that Chad Michael Collins, Ryan Robbins and Dennis Haysbert returned to reprise their roles from previous movies.

Watchable for the action movie that it was, "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" somewhat deviated and strayed too far from the original concept of the franchise for my liking.

My rating of writer and director Oliver Thompson's 2023 "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" movie lands on a five out of ten stars.

The Sniper series has had some serious ups and downs in terms of quality. I didn't particularly enjoy the last chapter and when the trailer dropped for 'Sniper G. R. I. T.' I wasn't very enthusiastic about what I saw. The good news is this is a decent sequel and addition to the franchise.

Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) & Zero (Ryan Robbins) are still working for Gabriel "The Colonel" Stone (Dennis Haysbert) in a newly established CIA offshoot called 'Global Response & Intelligence Team' or G. R. I. T. for short. Six months ago, Lady Death (Luna Fujimoto) was sent on a mission to Malta to assassinate a bad guy called Ivan Bubalo but failed. Now it turns out she's still alive. So the two men are sent in to rescue her, kill Bubalo & his high ranking associates and dismantle once and for all this powerful terrorist cell called the "State of Aragon".

I'd say more about the story, but that would be verging on spoiler territory. What I can say is it doesn't stop there. You get Yuki "Lady Death" Mifune's backstory expanded upon. I'm very happy to report that Brandon takes up the scope multiple times in sniping segments that deliver on the namesake. We're even past the whole "one shot, one kill" notion now. Happy to see Intelligence Pete (Josh Brener) make a return as well. He was one of the few good parts of that last sequel.

There is some real nice scenery of Malta shown. Good camera work - drone shots - that really make the movie have a big budget feel. There isn't many low parts here. Of course, Lady Death was recast. I obviously don't know why, but Luna is not a bad actress. Pulls off many fight scenes and the requisite gunplay needed. Also provides some Japanese dialog. There's some unfortunate CGI violence, gunshots but that has become par for the course in action films these days. However the tone throughout is solid.

The story within 'Sniper G. R. I. T.' won't blow you away, but the action delivers. The cast do their jobs and there's some unique sniper kills though you have to suspend your disbelief when a target survives a direct headshot. Director Oliver Thompson (who did the previous entry) juggles multiple hats here. Not only written & directed, but responsible for some of the music which he collaborated on with actor Ryan Robbins if you can believe it. I thought 'Rogue Mission' was the lowest point of the series, but he redeemed himself here.