Sniper 5 - Fino all'ultimo colpo

This was a welcome addition to the Sniper movies with Tom Berenger as Thomas Beckett.

The first one of course is the best one in this series.

But I enjoyed this one, good acting, fine story and Berenger returning, meeting his son. I liked it.

Even when you are no familiar with the series of movies, this still is a fun one to see when you like action movies.

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.

.... 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.

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.

"One shot, one kill." Brandon Beckett (Collins) is an elite sniper following in his father's footsteps. When he finds out that a rogue US sniper has been taking out high ranking military officers he wants to find a way to stop him. When he finds out that his dad, the legendary Thomas Beckett (Berenger) was one of the victims it becomes personal. Collins is on a quest for blood but when he is ambushed he is surprised that his father is the one who rescues him. Now the two of them together must not only stop the assassin but figure out who it is and why he is doing this. I have to admit that I have seen all of the other movies in this series but I don't really remember any of them. To me that's not the sign of a good movie. They are all pretty much the same thing and a little too slow for me. My son has really enjoyed these so we sat down to watch this together. I had to fight to stay awake and so did he. When it was over his only comment was the last 15 minutes was good the rest was really boring. I have to agree, when you watch a movie called Sniper you are looking for action and suspense. This one focused too much on the father/son aspect which normally is a good thing but the writing and dialog were not the best and the movie just seemed to drag on and on. There was a lot of planning scenes and not enough action scenes for either of us to stay interested in. Overall, fans of the others may like this but be prepared, there isn't as much action as you have come to expect from this series. I give it a C+.