 | | Mark Wahlberg stars as an ex-Marine sniper in 'Shooter.'
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| Fresh from his Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominations for "The Departed," Mark Wahlberg has certainly come full circle from his days as a rapper with his band "Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch."
After his breakout performance in "Boogie Nights," he's become one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors, starring with George Clooney in "Three Kings" and "The Perfect Storm," "The Italian Job" with Charlize Theron, and "Invincible" with Greg Kinnear.
In addition, Wahlberg is the executive producer of the HBO hit series "Entourage" which is loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood.
In "Shooter," Wahlberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, a former Marine scout sniper who finds himself in an unthinkable situation - framed as a Presidential assassin.
After a devastating betrayal while on a mission in Ethiopia, Wahlberg was left to die but his training allowed him to survive, and walk away from the Marines and sequester himself in a stunning but remote mountain hideaway.
When he's approached by retired Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover), who tells him the country desperately needs him since an assassination attempt on the President of the United States is imminent, and only Swagger's lethal skills and savvy expertise in long-range ballistics can halt the threat.
Swagger reluctantly agrees one last time to serve his country, but doesn't know the entire mission is a set-up and by the time he realizes the event has been rigged, it's too late.
Suddenly, he's in the headlines as the lone gunman who tried to shoot the President. Hunted at every turn, with nowhere to hide and no one to help him except a mystified woman he's just met (Kate Mara) and a novice FBI agent risking his career (Michael Peņa), Swagger finds himself in a desperate battle which will put everything he knows to the test.
The clock is ticking as he tries to figure out who the real hit men are before they hit him. But Swagger soon realizes even more than his own survival is at stake - because he's about to lift the veil off a devastating conspiracy at the very heart of American power.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day"), "Shooter" examines the core American value of honor, which is a scarce commodity in the politically complicated and increasingly corrupt world in which Bob Lee Swagger lives.
Forced to use every military, ballistic and psychological skill he has to not only survive, but to try to restore the honor that means so much to him. Not for his own, but for the honor of the country he loves which has been hijacked by a secret association bound only by its hunger for power and willingness to violate the public trust.
Wahlberg is superb as the skilled sniper and Glover turns in a whale of a performance as the retired Colonel looking to "help" the nation. The always magnificent Ned Beatty plays power-hungry Senator Charles F. Meachum in a role which peels away the outer layer to reveal a corrupt government.
Action packed from start to finish, this film hits the bulls-eye.
3 CLAPBOARDS
"Shooter" - Now Showing
Rated: R
Running Time: 120 minutes
Directed By: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Danny Glover
Top 20 box office for March 9-11
This Week Title Weekly Total
1 300 $70.88M $70.88M
2 Wild Hogs $27.60M $77.01M
3 Bridge to Terabithia $6.77M $66.93M
4 Ghost Rider $6.67M $104.01M
5 Zodiac $6.64M $23.59M
6 Norbit $4.27M $88.29M
7 The Number 23 $4.08M $30.23M
8 Music & Lyrics $3.74M $43.76M
9 Breach $2.50M $29.02M
10 Amazing Grace $2.47M $11.39M
11 Black Snake Moan $1.88M $7.29M
12 Reno 911!: Miami $1.40M $19.12M
13 The Ultimate Gift $1.24M $1.24M
14 Daddy's Little Girls $1.22M $30.12M
15 The Astronaut Farmer $1.01M $9.35M
16 Night at the Museum $922,474 $244.76M
17 The Lives of Others $852,558 $3.46M
18 Pan's Labyrinth $780,957 $35.41M
19 Because I Said So $712,545 $41.61M
20 The Last King of Scotland $656,921 $16.26M
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