Sniper: Reloaded

Can you ever compare to a legend? After being ambushed on a mission Sgt. Beckett (Collins), must step into his fathers shoes. Can he become as good of a sniper as his dad was and fight his way home? I spent the last few days watching "Sniper 1-3" in order to catch up. Although it helps to know the back story of his father and why Miller (Zane) is helping, but it's not necessary. This movie is very much like the other three, action is very good and exciting to watch. When there is no action or shooting, which is about 80% of the movie it slows way down and is hard to stay focused on it. If you like the other ones you will probably like this one. I did not. If you like "The American" you will probably enjoy this also. I just couldn't stay interested. I give it a C.

Would I watch again? - I will not.

One of the most exciting sniper films in the past 10 years. It will keep you at the edge of your seat from start to finish. The ending is totally unexpected and very satisfying. The portrayal of the military service is quite accurate unlike other sniper films that have too much sensationalism and exaggerated bravado. Don't expect too much special effects. This is a sniper film which relies on sneaky cat and mouse or hide and seek tactics, not a film about exploding robot aliens or mercenaries wielding dual Gatling guns. If you are looking for a fun action movie with a lot of suspense and a tiny hint of drama and romance, you will enjoy this movie.

For the most part, any film that relates itself to a franchise by having the words "Son of" end up doing horrible with fans and audiences. Son of the Mask (2005) is a perfect example of this type of fail. And then there are the few that actually respect their elders instead of jumping all over them. Sniper: Reloaded is exactly what it implies in the title; Berenger's out, time to bring in his "son" to fill in the shoes. And it's done almost perfectly to that of the first Sniper (1993).

This "fourquel", as some would call it, is about the story of Sgt. Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) who decides to fill in for his legendary father, Master Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Beckett, played by Tom Berenger in the past three films. Collins looks astonishingly similar to that of Berenger and it was stroke of luck that he acts just like him too. Thank you Christa Schamberger for casting Collins, you're great! And that's just one actor to be thankful for.

Then there's the character of Richard Miller (Billy Zane) who is now overgrown looking and has receding hair. So much for what he used to be! Now he's back to help Beckett's son become a sniper. And it's an honor to see Zane's character as the father figure in this film. This is the duo that made this franchise a hit and it's gratifying to see Richard Miller reciprocating what he learned to Tom Beckett's son. Not mention the fact that Zane makes his character so nonchalant yet charismatic. I laughed at a lot of the lines Miller had to say. It was fun to see him again.

The way John Fasano configured the script was cleverly written. There are some many juicy hints and references that will fans cringing with joy. Right at the beginning fans will even see a military record of Tom Beckett with an authenticated picture. Sweet. The audience will even learn why Brandon Beckett joined the marines. A specific character mentions even the line "One shot, two kills". Ahhh the memories! One thing that disappointed me was that even with all these clues, the truth to what happened to Thomas Beckett is left unmarked. Why? I guess the only thing we can assume is that since Berenger did not reprise the role, the character of Beckett Sr. is dead too. Oh well.

Like the past two sequels, the sniper franchise has moved to an action genre and has abandoned the thriller part of it. That still annoyed me but for what it's worth, this particular action was more entertaining than Sniper 2 (2002) or Sniper 3 (2004) put together. The carnage was turned up too which was a nice touch. It made the warfare more fun to watch. Credit to director Claudio Fäh, also director of far less entertaining Hollow Man 2 (2006) for the action sequences. His direction was much better than the Hollow Man sequel.

The scenery is great too. Sniper 2 (2002) was in the midst of a city and it didn't seem as real for a sniper to be taking out enemies there than in a Panamanian jungle. Sniper 3 (2004) had some of that but still failed to elevate it much higher. But Sniper: Reloaded is all filmed in the African Sahara. The audience will even get to see live animals; simply beautiful. Both Mark Sayfritz and Marcus Trumpp had an enjoyable musical soundtrack. Of course since this is a direct-to-video sequel it won't be released, but it does feel authentic and not just random notes put together.

Finally, as love interests go, I'd say it didn't have to be penned in but it did help make a good subplot. Annabel Wright plays Beckett's secret lover, Lt. Ellen Abramowitz, who helps him find the bad guys and take them out. I'm not sure why a sex scene was obligatory to have in the running time though. I guess it was that the story revolved around Collins, and because he's hunk, he's suppose to have sex with a fairly attractive military chick? I don't know. But overall I was very pleased with the outcome and it even leaves itself open for another sequel, which hopefully will happen with the same cast from this movie.

Aside the few nit-picks, Sniper: Reloaded is hard not to enjoy. The story, action, music, script and atmosphere by far surpass the last two sequels.

This movie has good quality action, good sound effects, and not too bad for an action movie.

Script is very weak. Poor dialogs and poor acting is pulling the quality of the movie down. I guess actors are inexperienced but doing their best with limited talents they got (or limited by the script - not sure).

Storyline is all right. It has a little twist but it becomes apparent at the start of the movie. No deep emotions and drama element, although, there was enough room for it in the story.

If you are looking for a thriller or a serious action movie, this is NOT it. This is something little better than a tele drama, which will keep you occupied till the end.

There are few "adult elements" in the movie: a short sex scene, shooting, blood, and display of child soldiers.

I kinda feared a disaster coming when I first heard about this movie only a couple of months before its release. No Berenger, at all. Some guy I never heard of playing his son. However Billy Zane's involvement sounded promising(although it had the taste of 'we couldn't get Berenger, so here have Zane instead') The trailer looked solid but showed absolutely nothing that could probably have promised quality of the first Sniper.

After having watched the final product, I have to admit that I enjoyed it. A lot. Chad Michael Collins plays a charismatic character but underacts in some situations for my taste(final kill). His physical appearance is very close to Berenger's. Think of Bruce Li in Bruceploitation terms ;) Billy Zane has just enough screen time to qualify his second name listing in the credits. He comes a lot more likable than in the first movie and has some gory kills and cool one-liners. The remaining characters also do their jobs pretty well considering their limited screen time.

The script is nothing special but so were the scripts for the first 3 movies. It pays a lot of homages to its predecessors for example in some kills and camera shots. It's clear that the makers have seen the original movies and were trying hard to bring the most enjoyable elements from those movies into the reboot. The typical "mission went wrong, fight on your own, cover up a conspiracy" element is there. As usual for the snipers series the main bad guys are not evil 'just because the script says so' but have realistic motivations. The sex scene comes out of nowhere but is needed to make some later plot points more realistic. This surely could have been made in a more fluent and less forced way.

The camera work is solid. The shaky cam is nowhere as annoying and overused as in a lot of new action movies ala The Expendables. There are some beautiful landscape shots and the locations are always exciting to look at. The mounted on the weapon camera angle is competently done for a movie of this budget league, although admittedly somewhat less impressive in the year 2011 than in 1998. The action scenes are shot furiously. Like in the first 3 movies there are not many of them, but when they come, they come with a bang. The more dialog-heavy scenes in between always have something going on and never feel like boring padding. Some weak points of the action scenes is that the baddies seem to like to run towards the sniper's hideout without shooting just to be easily killed instead of trying to hide. Maybe they are just in panic, don't get where the shots are coming from and think that they are running from the shots and not into them. Maybe it's the director's fault, both possibilities are realistic.

The soundtrack is nowhere as subtle-but-memorable as Gary Chang's soundtrack in the first two movies and also not as melancholic as the American Beautyesque soundtrack of the third Sniper movie. It sounds generic however it fits to the mood of the slower scenes and gets more energetic in the action scenes. It still manages to play a couple of similar tunes to the Chang version. Not much to complain about.

In conclusion I have to say that the Sniper series treated their fans way better than other series based on movies from the 90ies(see Darkman, Anaconda, Operation Delta Force). They might not be masterpieces and surely the Sniper sequels have been criticized for some factual errors in their plots/weapons/locations. In these regards "Sniper: Reloaded" may not be different. However for fans it is a great reboot of a series that just could not have survived with an aging Tom Berenger. I would never had thought that I would say that but: Introducing Beckett's son to series was probably the best solution in order to being able to continue the series. With Billy Zane the producers have established connection to an important character from the first movie. While the movie never feels like it belongs into the cinemas, it is obvious that everyone involved put huge effort into making the final result as good as possible. Which sadly is not that common in today's DTV movies.

Ratings Sniper: Reloaded 8/10 (with a possible fan-boy bonus of 1.5-2 points :) )

For reference: Sniper 1: 9.5/10 Sniper 2: 6/10 Sniper 3: 6.5/10

With that in mind: Make another one!