Shooter

Hopefully when you watch Shooter with Mark Wahlberg, you have clear expectations. You know what kind of movie it is. A movie where a really hot guy performs stunning physical feats and defies the odds to outwit an awful lot of smart people in the government. There's no need for it to make sense or for the plot details to be clear -- right?

Good. Because they're not. I had an interesting experience watching this movie. I watched the first 45 minutes a couple weeks ago. The DVD started to go bad -- it was freezing up on me. I had to return it to Netflix. Then of course wait for another copy. When I finally got around to the second copy, and picked up where I'd left off, I felt like I was watching a different movie. Because the first 45 minutes of this were really good, really promising. An emotionally complex character, a former Marine, whose mistrust of the government conflicts with his profound sense of patriotism. He's recruited to provide detailed descriptions of long-range sniper fire in intriguingly twisted city highrise conditions. It's a beautiful set up and a beautiful premise.

Then, sometime after he goes on the run, or about 50 minutes into the movie, the plot becomes impossibly convoluted. I just watched it, and already I can't remember what they said about Ethiopia, but I think it had something to do with someone having knowledge of a grave there. What this has to do with the senator and his secret agency within the FBI, I don't really know. Did it matter?

No. I had so much fun watching the action. You should see Mark Wahlberg single-handedly defeating an army of 28 men -- under fire and with the grace of a cat. Gorgeous.