This much we know from movies like The Yards, Four Brothers, The Departed and now Shooter (Paramount, 3 1/2 stars): Don't ever cross Mark Wahlberg. Because he will hunt you down with a vengeance. Shooter is vintage vengeance.
Wahlberg is Bob Lee Swagger, a Marine marksman who is extremely good at his craft, and poorly used by questionable operators within the American government - and within the shadow government of contractors. He opts out and heads for the Wyoming wilderness. Like Rambo, his government calls him back to duty, to help prevent the assassination of the president.
At least, they seem like the government. Swagger has been set up. Now everyone wants his hide.
Kind of like his Doppler Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy. Here we shift into the pure adrenaline rush of the original The Fugitive except there's no one of the stature of Tommy Lee Jones chasing him. Just some FBI desk jockeys who spend much time covering their butts from higher ups.
Swagger picks up two allies in his fight to clear his name - Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara), the widow of his former spotter, and Nick Memphis (Michael Pena), a rookie FBI agent. Arrayed against him are the amoral Col. Isaac Johnson (a raspy Danny Glover) and the corrupt Sen.
Meachum (Ned Beatty) and a small army of para-government forces. And, man, do they put on a good show. Johnson and his arrogant henchmen completely underestimate the staying power of Bob Lee Swagger, a man betrayed.
Only a Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis can truly appreciate the way Bob Lee plows through the body count, piling up low-end bad guys as he works his way to the top of the pyramid. A great movie for conspiracy freaks and shadow government nuts, it pours validity into all sorts of theories about who is really - no, I mean really - running the government. The DVD offers a feature-length commentary track by director Antoine Fuqua, a making-of feature and some deleted scenes.
Black Snake Moan (Paramount, 3 stars) Yeah, yeah, there's about 40 pounds of chains wrapped around a half-naked Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson is a big sweaty God-fearing black man in this Southern gothic from Craig Brewer ( Hustle Flow ). And, yeah, the promotion is as titillating as a B movie from the 1950s.
But looks are deceiving. This is a far better movie than the hype suggests. Jackson, as Lazarus, a broken blues musician and Ricci as Rae, a sexual addict, both have demons badly in need of exorcism.
When Rae shows up in Lazarus's front yard unconscious and clearly abused, he decides to cure the girl. God put you in my path, says Lazarus, and I aim to cure you of your wickedness. Along the way, both do a little healing.
This is a most unusual movie and not for everyone, especially if anything I said so far makes you squeamish. Just know that Jackson and Ricci are both outstanding and even Justin Timberlake as Rae's loving Army-bound boyfriend does a fine job. On the fence?
Take a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised. Pride (Lionsgate, 2 1/2 stars) Based somewhat on the true story of Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), a college-educated African-American and former competitive swimmer who revives an abandoned Philadelphia Department of Recreation swimming pool and turns a bunch of inner-city kids into a competitive swim team that actually goes on to win a state title.
Along the way he has to battle the city, developers, greed, indifference, racism and violence. And he has to convince the kids that winning, in and out of the pool, is worth it. The noble story of Ellis and his team gets the full Hollywood treatment, which means it pulls at your emotions in achingly obvious and annoying ways.
Standing Still (Genius Productions, 2 1/2 stars) I guess every generation needs this story and needs to make it their own. A loose collection of friends gather together a few years after college for 1. This much we know from movies like The Yards, Four Brothers, The Departed and now Shooter (Paramount, 3 1/2 stars): Don't ever cross Mark Wahlberg.
News RSS