Sniper 2

Sitting down to watch the 2002 movie "Sniper 2" after having just watched the 1993 original movie, I must say that writers Ron Mita and Jim McClain actually managed to put together an entertaining and enjoyable storyline for this particular movie.

While "Sniper 2" doesn't take place in a jungle, as the first movie did, I will say that the storyline sure was interesting enough. And it was a nice change of pace to have Thomas Beckett (played by Tom Berenger) do what he does in an urban setting.

There is a good amount of action in the movie, which supplements the storyline quite well. So the 91 minutes runtime doesn't feel long, slow or boring. I was genuinely entertained by this 2002 sequel from director Craig R. Baxley.

So this is definitely one of those rare moments where the sequel is every bit as good as the original first movie. If you enjoyed the 1993 movie "Sniper", then you definitely should also watch the 2002 movie "Sniper 2". This was my second time of watching it since it was initially released.

My rating of "Sniper 2" lands on a six out of ten stars.

The first Sniper film starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane was one heck of movie. And I wasn't surprised when I discovered that Sniper had its own set of sequels. Thankfully, for this franchise, just because they are Direct-to-Video sequels doesn't mean the writers left out what happened from the first film. Sniper 2 does retain some good qualities but it lacks a lot of what made Sniper (1993) the best.

Tom Berenger is back as the intelligent and deadly marksmen, Thomas Beckett. After having a frustrating retired life, he's persuaded to take on another mission by the U.S. government. This time, it's to take out a leader named Valstoria in Europe. It's great to see Berenger playing Beckett again because who else could? Berenger has a way of making his character cool and smart at the same time. Accompanying Beckett is Cole played by Bokeem Woodbine. Woodbine's character is arrogant and by listening to him talk rudely to Beckett just didn't seem like a good match. Zane's character, Richard Miller. was arrogant too but in a different manner; he had no experience being a sniper.

Something that really throws this film off track is the location. The first Sniper film took place in Panama. Dense heavy jungle, where every bit of the soldier had to be covered in camouflage. The location here is the middle of a city. There's no room for this now. Making things even more off beat is how this sequel turned itself into an actioneer film. There's absolutely no hint of thriller genre in the running time. As Beckett said originally from the first film:

"We'll wait days, for one shot one kill."

There's no extended waiting time here. It's "On your mark, get set, go". Several cars blow up, multiple gunfights, and lots of explosions. Sure it's a different angle but there's nothing to be thrilled about anymore. The explosions do the job. All the audience has to do now is leave their brains at the door. Why make such a successful first film and then turn it into a brain-dead action franchise? Thriller films engage their audiences, but not like this. I did enjoy it to a certain extent but I wasn't enthralled by it.

Then there's the whole issue of Beckett not understanding what the Europeans are speaking. How come he doesn't know? Beckett's the smart one! Why does he have to play Zane's role in this film and be the one who's always behind the eight ball? It's almost like he took a back seat for this film. One thing that made me a bit happy was knowing that Gary Chang was back again to make the score to this sequel. It wasn't totally the same as before but it at least tried to recall the elements of the first movie to show its resemblance.

Sniper 2 is not the best sequel even with Tom Berenger and Gary Chang reprising their roles. The story is at least faithful to the first film but nothing else is truly memorable about it.

Okay, let's see if I got this straight...the assassination target is a Serbian general attacking Muslim villages, but the cars all have Hungarian plates, and the locals all speak Hungarian, not any Slavic language. Okay, we'll suspend our disbelief that there are any Muslim villages in Hungary. But if Serbia were attacking Hungary, a NATO member, the response of the West would be something more than sending over a couple of guys who look like anything but Eastern Europeans. NATO is a mutual defense pact that comes to the defense of any member (well, NATO gets involved with other adventures, too, but that's a different debate).

So we find out that there are opposition leaders being held without charges in prison. Wonder whether the European Union knew about this when it invited Hungary to be a candidate for EU membership?

In any case, before Hungary joins the EU, it'll definitely have to do something about its product safety standards, particularly the tendency of every vehicle to explode into an enormous fireball when crashed, shot, bumped, or if its doors are slammed too hard. How big a fireball would an exploding Trabant be able to produce anyway, with its feeble East German two-stroke engine that's comparable to a lawnmower?

Did anyone notice that our heroes were dropped off by a helicopter marked "SFOR", but picked up by an unmarked helicopter? One might assume there was an enormous diplomatic outcry when the Bosnia-based UN Stabilization Force (SFOR) exceeded its mandate by carrying out a mission that took it over Croatian or Serbian territory and into Hungary, so when they made the trip again, SFOR removed all the identifying details. Either that or the film's continuity person fell asleep on the job.

And what was up with the heroes' desperate dash for "the border"? If they were in Hungary, they were safe. If they were dashing for the Croatian or Romanian borders, they'd be safe there too. But since they were in a place where villages were being attacked by Serbia, they were presumably close to the Serbian border. Why on earth would they want to reach the Serbian border? Shouldn't they be sitting tight, safe in Hungary, waiting for the NATO airstrikes to end the little Serbian incursion into Hungary?

And who were the bad guys, anyway? Invading Serbian troops who can somehow move freely around the streets of Hungarian cities, commandeering police cars without resistance, conducting shootouts on the street without any protest from Hungarians?

If anyone out there considering making "Sniper 3," please pick up a world atlas and read a few newspapers before you write the script!

Tom makes this film, and it is a decent late night film that was intended to a b film, What surprised me was the budget, what the US dollar can get in Hugary. I mean they got tank, choppers, lots of troops, and a believable military actors. This is still a B movie, but watchable. PS they leave room for Sniper 3 with the ending. It was a power one. 6/10

I just watched this movie. Firstly, movie is not near as good as Sniper 1. And secondly some words about this so called Serbian fighters. I'm from Slovenia and I speak Serbian language. But in this movie I didn't understand not even one word. At the end of the movie I saw this list of actors. Those names are not Serbian but Hungarian. I don't know who (I know only that he's mind doesn't work as it should) said to director of this movie that Hungary and Serbia is one and the same country. Language, habits, mentality,…nothing is the same in these two countries. It's very sad that someone is making a movie about country and he doesn't even knows basics about this country. Movie quality: 3/10 Geography knowledge: 0/10